A molecular study on how the abundance of the dechlorinating culture KB-1 affects dechlorination rates in clay till is presented. DNA extracts showed changes in abundance of specific dechlorinators as well as their functional genes. Independently of the KB-1 added, the microbial dechlorinator abundance increased to the same level in all treatments. In the non-bioaugmented microcosms the reductive dehalogenase gene bvcA increased in abundance, but when KB-1 was added the related vcrA gene increased while bvcA genes did not increase. Modeling showed higher vinyl-chloride dechlorination rates and shorter time for complete dechlorination to ethene with higher initial concentration of KB-1 culture, while cis-dichloroethene dechlorination rates were not affected by KB-1 concentrations. This study provides high resolution abundance profiles of Dehalococcoides spp. (DHC) and functional genes, highlights the ecological behavior of KB-1 in clay till, and reinforces the importance of using multiple functional genes as biomarkers for reductive dechlorination.
Keywords: Bioaugmentation; Biostimulation; Dechlorination; Dehalococcoides sp; KB-1; Modeling; qPCR.
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