9311144 Focht This is an award to support research to determine whether complementary catabolic pathways within bacterial strains for biodegradation of recalcitrant xenobiotic chemicals such as the polychlorinated biphenyls can be incorporated into a single pathway by enhancement of genetic exchange between added and indigenous soil bacteria. Current strategies for combining the genes from two or more catabolic phenotypes requires isolation of parental strains and genetic manipulation in vitro. In this research, the investigator plans on adding the requisite chlorobenzoate utilizer organisms to soil containing indigenous organisms capable of biodegrading biphenyl alone to determine whether degradation of the target substrate is enhanced and to determine the relative effectiveness of the different hybrid strains selected and developed during conduct of this project. Results of this research are expected to provide insights into how soil and sediments that have been contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls can be decontaminated by use of organisms capable of utilizing these organic compounds as metabolic substrates. This knowledge may be utilized in engineering design of bioreaction processes and for in situ decontamination of soil.
