Agenda 3/21 and 3/22 Microbes in the Environment Discussion Bioremediation Case Study Homework: Biofilms video and notes, study for unit exam Turn in: nothing?

Environmental Protection and Microbes BP Oil Spill: https://youtu.be/NHOWa-JjIMA What if we could use microbes to clean up oil spills and other environmental problems?

Bioremediation Bioremediation is the field that uses biological agents (mostly microbes) to clean up environmental problems Bacteria can be used to break down pollutants that can harm the environmental or living organisms Polluted water, oil spills, mercury pollution, benzene pollution

Example 1: Marinobacter and Benzene Benzene can be released into the water during oil exploration Benzene is a carcinogen and is very stable Marinobacter is used because it can live in high salt environments Salty water (brine) is also produced during oil exploration Marinobacter breaks benzene down in carbon dioxide

Example 2: Pseudomonas and Oil Physical and chemical clean ups of oils pills are not that effective Oil can harm marine and terrestrial ecosystems Pseudomonas can degrade oil is rhamnolipid is present Works even better if glycerol is present Glycerol is thought to give the Pseudomonas extra nutrients 58% of crude oil was degraded in one experiment in 2005

Example 3: Pseudomonas and Mercury Pollution Mercury is discarded from paint and light bulbs Mercury can get into the soil and water and be dangerous to animals and humans Mercury gets converted into methyl-mercury by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans Methyl-mercury can attach to smaller fish, which are eaten by bigger fish Humans then eat the bigger fish and digest the methyl-mercury Pseudomonas converts methyl-mercury into elemental mercury which is harmless

Example 4: Bacteriophage and Water Treatment Bacteriophages are viruses that infect and can kill bacteria Bacteriophages are present in human waste products They are easy to detect They can be used as an indicator organism to determine if water in contaminated

Bioremediation Project With a partner, pick ONE example we discussed Research that example and create an artifact that include An overview of how the method works An explanation of what problem it solves (explain the pollutant and why it’s bad) Steps to implementing the method (how do they actually do it) Example of its use in the past Specific data (with sources cited) that evaluate the effectiveness of the method Advantages and disadvantages to the method Background about the microorganism used (why, what does it do, other uses) Last 20 minutes or so will be used to present to the class