Life Sciences Commons^™

Genome-Scale Dynamics Modeling Of The Competition Between Rhodoferax And Geobacter In Anoxic Subsurface Environments, Derek Lovley, Kai Zhuang, Mounir Izallalen, Paula Museor, Hanno Richter, Carla Risso, Radhakrishnan Mahadevan

Carla Risso

The advent of rapid complete genome sequencing, and the potential to capture this information in genome-scale metabolic models, provide the possibility of comprehensively modeling microbial community interactions. For example, Rhodoferax and Geobacter species are acetate-oxidizing Fe(III)-reducers that compete in anoxic subsurface environments and this competition may have an influence on the in situ bioremediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater. Therefore, genome-scale models of Geobacter sulfurreducens and Rhodoferax ferrireducens were used to evaluate how Geobacter and Rhodoferax species might compete under diverse conditions found in a uranium-contaminated aquifer in Rifle, CO. The model predicted that at the low rates of acetate flux expected …