hydrocarbon metagenome Targeted loci

Simultaneous analysis of chemical and microbial diversity, combining both advanced high-resolution mass spectrometry and high-throughput sequencing technologies, has not been conducted for polluted groundwater to date. At the Flingern site (Duesseldorf, Germany), it has recently been shown that overall DOM patterns and also specific metabolites indicative of active hydrocarbon degradation are highly correlated to the geochemistry of distinct plume compartments and highly enriched in the plume core {Dvorski, 2016 }. However, it has not been tested whether comparable linkages can also be observed between DOM patterns and intrinsic microbial communities. We propose that such correlations have the potential to hint at previously unclear functional associations of microbial populations abundant in distinct plume compartments, but involved in processes other than primary contaminant degradation. Moreover, we seek to address whether such correlational patterns can also be observed between the distribution of key sulfur-cycling bacterial populations and the sulfur-organics detectable in distinct plume zones. These research questions contribute to a better understanding of the complex interplay between the cycling of pollutants, sulfur and organic matter in contaminated groundwater.