Evolutionary dynamics and ecophysiology of Microbial reductive dehalogenation
Event details
| Date | 17.03.2011 |
| Hour | 16:00 |
| Speaker | Dr Alfred Spormann, Departments of Chemical Engineering and of Civil/Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USA |
| Location |
AI1153
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Vinyl chloride is a widespread groundwater pollutant and Group 1 carcinogen. A previous comparative genomic analysis revealed that the vinyl chloride reductase operon, vcrABC, of Dehalococcoides sp. strain VS is embedded in a horizontally-acquired genomic island that integrated at the single-copy gene ssrA. Dehalococcoides are members of the ‘rare biosphere’ with slow growth rate and are highly adapted to niches, revealing a biology that is distinct from the well-studied gamma proteobacteria. This talk will discuss the biology as well as the
implications of the finding that the vcrABC-containing genomic islands are a recentlyacquired subset of a diverse collection of ssrA-specific mobile elements. These elements are a major contributor to strain-level diversity in Dehalococcoides, and may have been so throughout its evolution. The high similarity between vcrABC sequences is quantitatively consistent with recent horizontal acquisition driven by 100 years of industrial pollution with chlorinated ethenes.
Links
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Contact
- Prof. Melanie Blokesch, UPBLO-SV