Chemical, Physiological and Metabolic Interactions between Pseudomonas, Metals and Environmental Nutrients

Simple item page
atmire.migration.oldid5374
dc.contributor.advisorTurner, Raymond J.
dc.contributor.authorBooth, Sean C.
dc.contributor.committeememberWeljie, Aalim
dc.contributor.committeememberGieg, Lisa
dc.contributor.committeememberTurner, Raymond J.
dc.contributor.committeememberEltis, Lindsay
dc.contributor.committeememberDeVinney, Rebekah
dc.date.accessioned2017-02-21T18:04:30Z
dc.date.available2017-02-21T18:04:30Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.date.submitted2017en
dc.description.abstractEnvironmental pollution is one of the major problems facing humanity. Bacteria are capable of removing pollutants from the environment through their metabolic activities. This works for organic pollutants, but metals inhibit the degradation process. Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 is a bacterium that is resistant to metals and is able to degrade pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls. In this thesis I present how interactions between the bacterium, its environment and metals affect the bacterium’s physiology and metabolism of biphenyl. Chemical interactions with environmental components affect the toxicity of metals towards bacteria. By examining the tolerance of Pseudomonas species towards copper and aluminium in different media compositions I found that metal bioavailability and carbon source quality had a strong influence on the amount of metal they could withstand. Building on these data, I used metabolomics to understand how metals interfere with organic pollutant degradation. By quantifying the small molecules used and produced by the bacterial cell I was able to determine that metal toxicity is exacerbated by the oxidative stress of metabolizing an organic pollutant. P. pseudoalcaligenes KF707 can swim towards biphenyl but it was unknown how. By deleting genes that were expected to be involved in energy-taxis, a process that allows bacteria to swim to metabolizable carbon sources, I found that this was not how KF707 swims towards biphenyl. I did discover that some unexpected genes were involved in energy-taxis and also that the primary gene for this behavior, Aer, is actually a family of receptors with variable phylogenetic distribution in the genus Pseudomonas. These results provide new insight into the interactions between a bacterium and the nutrients and stressors in their environment.en_US
dc.identifier.citationBooth, S. C. (2017). Chemical, Physiological and Metabolic Interactions between Pseudomonas, Metals and Environmental Nutrients (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25315en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/25315
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11023/3658
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.facultyScience
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectMicrobiology
dc.subject.otherMicrobiology
dc.subject.otherMetabolomics
dc.subject.otherPseudomonas
dc.subject.otherMetals
dc.subject.otherChemotaxis
dc.titleChemical, Physiological and Metabolic Interactions between Pseudomonas, Metals and Environmental Nutrients
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineBiological Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
Files
Collections
Open Theses and Dissertations