Oak Ridge FRC Uranium-Nitrate Groundwater Community

Community ID CommunityMech:000136

Ecological State PERTURBED

Environment contaminated groundwater
ENVO:01001004

A natural contaminated-groundwater microbial community from the U.S. DOE Oak Ridge Field Research Center, where groundwater wells span strong gradients in acidity, nitrate, uranium, and other metal contaminants. Clone-library and isolate studies link geochemistry to community structure, with lower diversity in highly contaminated wells and enrichment of organisms capable of uranium, nitrate, and iron reduction. This record represents the field community, distinct from existing defined ENIGMA denitrifying SynCom records derived from Oak Ridge isolates.

Taxonomy

Taxon	Ontology ID	Functional Roles	Abundance
Rhodanobacter denitrificans and related Rhodanobacter spp.	NCBITaxon:666685	PRIMARY_DEGRADER SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER	DOMINANT
PMID:30523276 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "In the most contaminated wells, the microbial community is enriched in the Rhodanobacter genus." PMID:22140175 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "these strains represent the first member of the genus Rhodanobacter shown to be capable of complete denitrification."
Pseudomonas spp.	NCBITaxon:286	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:22988623 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "The high concentrations of contaminants present in well FW113-47 stimulated the growth of organisms capable of reducing uranium (Shewanella and Pseudomonas), nitrate (Pseudomonas, Rhodanobacter and Xanthomonas) and iron (Stenotrophomonas), and which were unique to this well."
Shewanella spp.	NCBITaxon:22	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:22988623 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "The high concentrations of contaminants present in well FW113-47 stimulated the growth of organisms capable of reducing uranium (Shewanella and Pseudomonas), nitrate (Pseudomonas, Rhodanobacter and Xanthomonas) and iron (Stenotrophomonas), and which were unique to this well."
Stenotrophomonas spp.	NCBITaxon:40323	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:22988623 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "The high concentrations of contaminants present in well FW113-47 stimulated the growth of organisms capable of reducing uranium (Shewanella and Pseudomonas), nitrate (Pseudomonas, Rhodanobacter and Xanthomonas) and iron (Stenotrophomonas), and which were unique to this well."

Ecological Interactions

Taxon

Cross-feeding

Mutualism

Syntrophy

Competition

Commensalism

Niche partitioning

Colonization facilitation

Strain competition

Predation

Contaminant-Selected Rhodanobacter Dominance

NICHE_PARTITIONING

Source Taxon: Rhodanobacter denitrificans and related Rhodanobacter spp.

Target Taxon: other groundwater bacteria

Metabolites: uranium(VI) (CHEBI:37119), nitrate (CHEBI:17632)

Biological Processes:

denitrification (GO:0019333)

Evidence

PMID:30523276 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)

"We focused on a contaminated aquifer in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA that has large gradients of pH and widely varying concentrations of uranium, nitrate, and many other inorganic ions."
PMID:30523276 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)

"few isolates aside from Rhodanobacter can tolerate these eight ions."

Mixed Metal and Nitrate Reduction Potential

CROSS_FEEDING

Metabolites: uranium(VI) (CHEBI:37119), nitrate (CHEBI:17632), iron(3+) (CHEBI:29034)

Biological Processes:

oxidation-reduction process (GO:0055114)
denitrification (GO:0019333)

Downstream Effects:

→ Bioremediation potential

Evidence

PMID:22988623 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)

"Metal-reducing bacteria were present in all four wells, which may suggest that there is potential for successful bioremediation of the groundwater at the Oak Ridge FRC."
PMID:22988623 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)

"The high concentrations of contaminants present in well FW113-47 stimulated the growth of organisms capable of reducing uranium (Shewanella and Pseudomonas), nitrate (Pseudomonas, Rhodanobacter and Xanthomonas) and iron (Stenotrophomonas), and which were unique to this well."

Environmental Factors

Factor	Value	Unit
Groundwater pH, nitrate, uranium, and metals	pH 3 to 7; nitrate 44 to 23,400 mg/L; uranium 0.73 to 60.36 mg/L	N/A
PMID:22988623 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "Four groundwater wells (GW835, GW836, FW113-47 and FW215-49) with a wide range of pH (3 to 7), nitrate (44 to 23,400 mg L(-1)), uranium (0.73 to 60.36 mg L(-1)) and other metal contamination, were investigated."
Diversity loss under high contamination	lower gene diversity in highly contaminated well FW113-47	N/A
PMID:22988623 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "Microbial diversity decreased in relation to the contamination levels of the wells."
Selective metal ion stress	low pH with UO2(2+), Zn(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), and other selective ions	N/A
PMID:30523276 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "low pH and high UO_{2}^{2+}, Mn^{2+}, Al^{3+}, Cd^{2+}, Zn^{2+}, Co^{2+}, and Ni^{2+} are both (a) selectively inhibitory of a Pseudomonas isolate from an uncontaminated well vs. a Rhodanobacter isolate from a contaminated well"