Date of Award:

5-1-2006

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Biology

Department name when degree awarded

Life Sciences: Biology

Committee Chair(s)

Anne J. Anderson

Committee

Anne J. Anderson

Committee

Darwin Sorensen

Committee

Brad Kropp

Committee

Yajun Wu

Abstract

Five mycobacterium isolates that degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons colonize the surface of barley roots from a seed inoculum. Colonization was maintained in the presence of an aggressive root-colonizing pseudomonad. All five of the mycobacterium strains utilized components in root washes for growth but they differed in their potential for biofilm formation. Components in the barley root washes did not impede the mineralization of pyrene. An inexpensive, portable, flexible microcosm chamber system was constructed and implemented in pyrene mineralization experiments. The system facilitated control of sterile conditions, air flow-through, and collection of volatilized radiolabeled compounds. Mineralization rates of pyrene were higher in a barley rhizosphere colonized with Mycobacterium KMS than they were in a sterile rhizosphere environment or a sand matrix inoculated with M. KMS.

Included in

Biology Commons

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