DOE Genomics: Applications to In Situ Subsurface Bioremediation

Microbial communities can greatly affect the mobility and fate of subsurface contaminants, yet relatively little is known about the functioning of microorganisms in subsurface environments. Major advances in DNA sequencing capability and the advent of genome-enabled studies have produced key insights into how microorganisms adapt to environmental conditions and/or biotransform sub-surface contaminants starting from analyses of genome content. These techniques enable the researcher to detect how an organism responds to its environment and, potentially, to devise better methods to promote specific microbial activity in subsurface environments. The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors genome research through the Genomics: GTL program. One of the applications of this research is to better understand and control biological processes influencing the mobility of contaminants of concern to DOE such as metals and radionuclides. Genome and gene expression techniques have led to new insights into the functioning of subsurface microbial communities, but the true potential of these techniques is still to be revealed. As genome-enabled science pro-gresses, techniques for evaluating gene expression patterns of whole communities will advance the understanding and development of optimized in situ bioremediation and more realistic simulations of microbial contaminant biotransformation. (C) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.