Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39951402›Full record

ArticlePloS one2025

Whole metagenome sequencing and 16S rRNA gene amplicon analyses reveal the complex microbiome responsible for the success of enhanced in-situ reductive dechlorination (ERD) of a tetrachloroethene-contaminated Superfund site.

Rebecca A Reiss, Peter A Guerra, Oleg Makhnin, Matthew Kellom

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Rebecca A ReissBiology Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, New Mexico, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-9884-0440
Peter A GuerraLynker Corporation, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America.
Oleg MakhninMathematics Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, New Mexico, United States of America.
Matthew KellomDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-8310-7078

Funding

NM-INBRE Sequencing and Bioinformatics CoreP20GM103451 · NIGMS · NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY LAS CRUCES · PI Charlotte C. Gard · 2012 to 2026
$61.2M
ZUNI HEALTH INITIATIVE-PILOT STUDYP20RR016480 · NCRR · NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY LAS CRUCES · PI TARTIS, MICHAELANN SHORTENCARIER · 2001 to 2011
$33.7M
NCRR NIH HHS P20 RR016480NIGMS NIH HHS P20 GM103451
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The North Railroad Avenue Plume (NRAP) Superfund site in New Mexico, USA exemplifies successful chlorinated solvent bioremediation. NRAP was the result of leakage from a dry-cleaning that operated for 37 years. The presence of tetrachloroethene biodegradation byproducts, organohalide respiring genera (OHRG), and reductive dehalogenase (rdh) genes detected in groundwater samples indicated that enhanced reductive dechlorination (ERD) was the remedy of choice. This was achieved through biostimulation by mixing emulsified vegetable oil into the contaminated aquifer. This report combines metagenomic techniques with site monitoring metadata to reveal new details of ERD. DNA extracts from groundwater samples collected prior to and at four, 23 and 39 months after remedy implementation were subjected to whole metagenome sequencing (WMS) and 16S rRNA gene amplicon (16S) analyses. The response of the indigenous NRAP microbiome to ERD protocols is consistent with results obtained from microcosms, dechlorinating consortia, and observations at other contaminated sites. WMS detects three times as many phyla and six times as many genera as 16S. Both techniques reveal abundance changes in Dehalococcoides and Dehalobacter that reflect organohalide form and availability. Methane was not detected before biostimulation but appeared afterwards, corresponding to an increase in methanogenic Archaea. Assembly of WMS reads produced scaffolds containing rdh genes from Dehalococcoides, Dehalobacter, Dehalogenimonas, Desulfocarbo, and Desulfobacula. Anaerobic and aerobic cometabolic organohalide degrading microbes that increase in abundance include methanogenic Archaea, methanotrophs, Dechloromonas, and Xanthobacter, some of which contain hydrolytic dehalogenase genes. Aerobic cometabolism may be supported by oxygen gradients existing in aquifer microenvironments or by microbes that produce O2 via microbial dismutation. The NRAP model for successful ERD is consistent with the established pathway and identifies new taxa and processes that support this syntrophic process. This project explores the potential of metagenomic tools (MGT) as the next advancement in bioremediation.

Indexed as

MetagenomeMicrobiotaRNA, Ribosomal, 16STetrachloroethyleneWater Pollutants, ChemicalBiodegradation, EnvironmentalGroundwaterHalogenationNew MexicoRNA, Ribosomal, 16STetrachloroethyleneWater Pollutants, Chemical

Identifiers

PMID39951402
PMCPMC11828348

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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.