An Integrated Approach to Understanding the Factors Controlling Biodegradation of Military Toxic Wastes
Abstract
The principal outcome of this research has been to integrate fundamental enzymatic, genetic and physiological studies with mathematical analysis to better define the factors controlling the rate of biodegradation of selected model compounds representative of military toxic wastes. The worked focuses on further developing the biodegradation potential of the broad-spectrum organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) enzyme when used alone, in enzyme-based complexes, as well as in microbial systems in pure cultures and consortia. The work has two key objectives: (1) To understand and develop the processes which render biodegradative products innocuous. (2) To combine the fundamental detoxification studies with precise toxicity measurements and statistical/mathematical analyses of metabolic processes to identify those genetic and physiological factors which affect the toxicity of the biodegradation mixtures. This has allowed us to propose and test various mean of increasing the biodegradative rates and decreasing the toxicity of the biodegradative mixtures for model compounds and microbial systems. Additionally, we have further developed the OPH system with increased substrate range and catalytic rates against complex OP neurotoxins, and further defined the enzymatic activities important in the biotransformation of nitroaromatics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA370153
Entities
People
- B. E. Dale
- J. R. Wild
- J. S. Bonner
- K. C. Donnelly
- R. L. Autenrieth
Organizations
- Texas A&M University