Determining mechanisms of microbial metal mobilization
EMSL Project ID
49644
Abstract
Characterizing metal-binding compounds in environmental samples has historically been a formidable challenge due to their low concentrations within an extremely complicated organic matrix. To address this challenge we will use state of the art inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry along with isotope pattern recognizing data processing algorithms to detect and identify trace metal binding organic compounds in environmental samples. An equally important challenge is to connect these compounds with the microbial species that produce them and elucidate the environmental conditions that result in their production. While surveying wide environmental chemical gradients can establish broad scale trends that are useful for ecosystem modeling, many of the most abundant microbes are adapted to specific chemical conditions within soils or in association with plant hosts, where local concentrations of nutrients, oxygen, and competitors are quite variable. The ability to grow microbes in controlled environments in continuous culture bioreactors and flow cell chambers at PNNL are perfectly suited for isolating specific environmental variables that elicit metabolic responses from microbial communities. In addition, soft ionization mass spectrometry imaging techniques provide a means of monitoring these chemical changes across microenvironments including biofilms, root systems, and sedimentary gradients and mosaics. By combining these tools and developing computer algorithms for analyzing mass spectrometry datasets, we will develop a mechanistic understanding of how microbial communities regulate scarce metal resources and how these strategies adjust in response to environmental changes through both laboratory and field studies.
Project Details
Start Date
2016-10-20
End Date
2019-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members
Related Publications
Boiteau R.M., C.P. Till, T.H. Coale, J.N. Fitzsimmons, K.W. Bruland, and D.J. Repeta. 2019. "Patterns of iron and siderophore distributions across the California Current System." Limnology and Oceanography 64, no. 1:376-389. PNNL-SA-138032. doi:10.1002/lno.11046
Boiteau R.M., J.B. Shaw, L. Pasa Tolic, D.W. Koppenaal, and J.K. Jansson. 2018. "Micronutrient metal speciation is controlled by competitive organic chelation in grassland soils." Soil Biology and Biochemistry 120. PNNL-SA-128577. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.02.018
Boiteau R.M., S.J. Fansler, Y. Farris, J.B. Shaw, D.W. Koppenaal, L. Pasa-Tolic, and J.K. Jansson. 2019. "Siderophore Profiling of Co-Habitating Soil Bacteria by Ultra-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry." Metallomics 11, no. 1:166-175. PNNL-SA-139283. doi:10.1039/c8mt00252e
Rene M. Boiteau, John B. Cliff, Alice Dohnalkova, Mark H. Engelhard, Kirsten S. Hofmockel, Libor Kovarik, Ravi Kukkadapu, James J. Moran, Daniel E. Perea, Chuck R. Smallwood, Tamas Varga, Thomas Wietsma, Mark G. Wirth. 2020. "Calcareous organic matter coatings sequester siderophores in alkaline soils." Science of The Total Environment 724:138250. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138250
Rene M. Boiteau, Rosalie K. Chu, David W. Hoyt, Dehong Hu, Janet K. Jansson, Christer Jansson, Lye Meng Markillie, Hugh D. Mitchell, Ljiljana Pasa-Tolic. 2021. "Metabolic Interactions between
Brachypodium
and Pseudomonas fluorescens under Controlled Iron-Limited Conditions." mSystems 6 (1) 10.1128/mSystems.00580-20