The toxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) can be efficiently reduced in contaminated marine sediments through the reductive dechlorination (RD) process lead by anaerobic organohalide bacteria. Although the process has been extensively investigated on PCB-spiked sediments, the knowledge on the identity and metabolic potential of PCB-dechlorinating microorganisms in real contaminated matrix...

Nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) can be used to dechlorinate trichloroethylene (TCE) in contaminated aquifers. Dehalococcoides spp. is the only microbial genus known to dechlorinate TCE to ethene as a respiratory process. However, little is known about how NZVI affects the expression of genes coding for reductive dechlorination. We examined a high-rate TCE-dechlorinating mixed culture which con...

Title of Document: KINETICS OF DEHALOBACTER AND DEHALOCOCCOIDES STRAINS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON COMPETITION FOR GROWTH SUBSTRATES. YenJung Lai, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Associate Professor, Jennifer G. Becker, Department of Environmental Science and Technology The chlorinated solvents tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE) are common groundwater contaminants. Reductive de...

Chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) are common groundwater contaminants due to their improper use in several industrial activities. Specialized microorganisms able perform the reductive dechlorination (RD) of high-chlorinated CAHs such as perchloroethylene (PCE), while low-chlorinated ethenes vinyl chloride (VC) more susceptible oxidative mechanisms performed by aerobic dechlorinating mic...