soil metagenome Targeted loci environmental

The fate of nine contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) were investigated under four terminal electron accepting processes (TEAPs) (aerobic, nitrate-reducing, iron(III) -reducing, and sulfate-reducing) in batch microcosms. These chemicals represent a group of persistent micro-organic pollutants that are commonly detected in treated wastewater effluent. The concentrations of the electron donor, electron acceptor or byproducts were measured to verify the establishment of TEAP conditions. The degradation patterns of the CECs were compared between sterile and microbially-active microcosms to assess the influence of the microbiomes to their biodegradation using sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and Illumina Sequencing. The results from the kinetic experiments were used to assess the influence of each TEAP to the attenuation of selected CECs.