ArticleScientific reports2020
Horizontal 'gene drives' harness indigenous bacteria for bioremediation.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Recent Advanced Technologies for the Characterization of Xenobiotic-Degrading Microorganisms and Microbial Communities.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2021Pooled it
- Microbial consortia for pesticide biodegradation: mechanisms, cross-class pathways, and translational challenges.Biodegradation · 2026Review
- Adaptive Laboratory Evolution of the Hydrocarbonoclastic Marine Strain Rhodococcus ruber MSA14 to High Pyrene Concentrations.Current microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Marine bacteria and fungi: the hidden treasure of oceans in the biodegradation of microplastics and hydrocarbons integrated with omics technologies.Archives of toxicology · 2026Review
- Metabolic adaptations of extremophiles and their applications in environmental biotechnology.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
- Engineering Plant-Associated Microorganisms for Bioremediation and Sustainable Agriculture.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Synthetic Biology of Plants and Microbes for Agriculture, Environment, and Future Applications.Chemical reviews · 2026Review
- Targeting Horizontal Gene Transfer to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance: A Review of Mechanisms, Drivers, and Multi-Omics Strategies.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Review
- Relevance of cross talk between root exudates, hormones, and root-associated microbes in developing sustainable phytoremediation strategies: a comprehensive review.Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology · 2025Review
- Plastic-Microbial BioRemediation DB: A Curated Database for Multi-Omics Applications.Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Article
- Isolation and Characterization of a Crude Oil-Tolerant Obligate Halophilic Bacterium from the Great Salt Lake of the United States of America.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Engineering biology applications for environmental solutions: potential and challenges.Nature communications · 2025Review
- Review
- Design and regulation of engineered bacteria for environmental release.Nature microbiology · 2025Review
- Genetic Bioaugmentation-Mediated Bioremediation of Terephthalate in Soil Microcosms Using an Engineered Environmental Plasmid.Microbial biotechnology · 2025Article
- Genome-resolved analysis of Serratia marcescens strain SMTT infers niche specialization as a hydrocarbon-degrader.DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes · 2024Article
- Degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics by wastewater bacteria engineered via conjugation.Microbial biotechnology · 2024Article
- The hydrocarbon pollution crisis: Harnessing the earth hydrocarbon-degrading microbiome.Microbial biotechnology · 2024Article
- Synthetic microbiology in sustainability applications.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Engineering bacteria to clean-up oil spills is rapidly advancing but faces regulatory hurdles and environmental concerns. Here, we develop a new technology to harness indigenous soil microbial communities for bioremediation by flooding local populations with catabolic genes for petroleum hydrocarbon degradation. Overexpressing three enzymes (almA, xylE, p450cam) in Escherichia coli led to degradation of 60-99% of target hydrocarbon substrates. Mating experiments, fluorescence microscopy and TEM revealed indigenous bacteria could obtain these vectors from E. coli through several mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), including conjugation and cytoplasmic exchange through nanotubes. Inoculating petroleum-polluted sediments with E. coli carrying the vector pSF-OXB15-p450camfusion showed that the E. coli cells died after five days but a variety of bacteria received and carried the vector for over 60 days after inoculation. Within 60 days, the total petroleum hydrocarbon content of the polluted soil was reduced by 46%. Pilot experiments show that vectors only persist in indigenous populations when under selection pressure, disappearing when this carbon source is removed. This approach to remediation could prime indigenous bacteria for degrading pollutants while providing minimal ecosystem disturbance.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.