Authors: Akir Rowe, Hali Hutchinson, Kingdom Wanjoku
Mentors: Katrina Twing
Insitution: Weber State University
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are toxic chemicals popularly used in electrical manufacturing companies from the 1930s - 1970s. PCBs, colloquially known as ‘forever chemicals’, are known to cause significant health concerns and are notoriously difficult to remove from an environment. PCBs are currently banned in the US; however, they can still be found in the environment due to improper disposal methods. This research aims to better understand ecological networks, genomic novelties, and potential bioremediation of microbes from PCB-contaminated environments. Microcosm cultures were developed to resemble the original conditions of the environmental samples, containing PCB-contaminated mud from Woods Pond, Lenox, Massachusetts, and filtered pond water with three different treatments: aerobic, anaerobic, and anaerobic with the addition of sulfate. These cultures have been growing for five months, showing signs of active microbial metabolism (e.g., rust patches in sediment gas production). The microcosms were used as inoculum for agar containing PCBs, and 30 PCB-tolerant colonies were isolated, with some belonging to known PCB-degrading taxa of Paenibacillus, Clostridium, Rhizobium, Methylversatalis, and Sphingobacteria. Future analyses will be conducted to (a) identify the microbial diversity within the microcosms via 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, (b) explore the metabolisms within the microcosms, and (c) further characterize the isolated PCB-tolerant bacteria. This data will aid further research to determine if and how these microbes metabolize PCB compounds.