Little is known about the enzyme-substrate interactions occurring during the dechlorination of chloroform (CF) and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA) by the enrichment culture containing Dehalobacters, hereafter called DHB-CF/MEL. Compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) is used to investigate the factors which may affect the isotope fractionation observed for CF and 1,1,1-TCA dechlorination. This thesis reports the first isotope enrichment factors observed for CF biodegradation at -27.5‰ ± 0.9‰, thus providing fundamental information for comparing isotope enrichment factors observed during trichlorinated alkane degradation by DHB-CF/MEL. The thesis also reports how the presence of CF and 1,1,1-TCA influences isotope fractionation and explores the possible influence of substrate inhibition on isotope fractionation during 1,1,1-TCA dechlorination. The data suggests that substrate inhibition during 1,1,1-TCA dechlorination by DHB-CF/MEL may not affect carbon isotope fractionation. The results suggest that CSIA is a promising monitoring tool even for the simultaneous biodegradation of CF and 1,1,1-TCA at different 1,1,1-TCA starting concentration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/33361 |
| Date | 21 November 2012 |
| Creators | Chan, Calvin |
| Contributors | Sherwood Lollar, Barbara |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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