EAGER: Isolation of ionizing radiation resisting microorganisms from the Gamma Forest in Long Island, NY

EAGER：从纽约长岛伽马森林中分离出抗电离辐射微生物

• 批准号: 1028438
• 负责人: Vishal Shah
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Dowling College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-05-01 至 2011-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1028438&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Isolation; ionizing; radiation; resisting

Principal Investigator: Vishal ShahProposal No: CBET- 1028438 Over the period of the last few years, it has been realized that a potential exists to enrich lighter uranium and plutonium from the high-level radioactive waste. The PI?s long term goal is to develop a microorganism based technology that could carry out such enrichment. In the current proposal he aims to isolate microorganisms having resistance to high intensity ionizing radiation. The soil of Gamma Forest, located at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, will be used to screen the organisms having desired properties. Gamma Forest was a radiation facility established in 1961 to provide opportunity for systematic study of the effects of ionizing radiation on a terrestrial ecosystem and its components. The source of radiation used during the experiment was cesium-137 (9500 curies), a gamma emitter. In the study, the radiation source was placed on a tower located in the center of the field and the field was exposed 20 hours/day daily till 1979. Rates of exposure around the source varied from several thousand roentgens per day within a few meters of the source to about 2 roentgens per day at 130 meters. The working hypothesis for the proposed research is that, based on the intensity of radiation that the soil was exposed at various distances from Cs137, different types of ionizing radiation resisting microorganisms would have survived. The experimental approach involves exposing the soil obtained from various locations of gamma forest to gamma radiation. The microorganisms from soil would then be isolated using serial dilution and plating approaches. The resistance to ionizing radiation will be confirmed by again exposing the cultures to gamma radiation. All the isolated cultures having resistance to radiation will be identified using molecular methods.The proposed research will impact the disciplines of Environmental Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology: 1. New extremophilic microorganisms that are acidophilic/acid tolerant and radiation tolerant could be expected to be isolated in the proposed research. These cultures could have multiple applications in the field of biotechnology and environmental sciences. 2. The research would expand the library of gram negative, gram positive, yeast and fungi cultures in Biolog and 16S rDNA database. This would help scientists working in similar areas to identify the cultures which would be added in the database through this project with ease.The proposed project will impact science in a broader sense by: 1. The student who will be trained through this project will have an in depth research experience in classical microbiology and be better positioned to contribute to novel concepts in modern microbial techniques. 2. The project reinforces the educational experience for a socially diverse and economically disadvantaged student body, including those from underrepresented groups in the New York City area. At Dowling College, underrepresented minorities are close to 50% of the student population, and there are 70% females in the Department of Biology at Dowling College. 3. Also, instruments obtained through the funding of this project will be used in conducting new laboratory experiments in Introduction to Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry courses. This will aid in developing more scientifically trained youth for our society.

首席研究员：Vishal Shah 提案编号：CBET-1028438 在过去几年中，人们已经认识到存在从高放射性废物中浓缩轻铀和钚的潜力。 PI 的长期目标是开发一种能够进行此类富集的基于微生物的技术。 在当前的提案中，他的目标是分离对高强度电离辐射具有抵抗力的微生物。 位于布鲁克海文国家实验室的伽玛森林的土壤将用于筛选具有所需特性的生物体。 伽马森林是一个辐射设施，成立于 1961 年，旨在为系统研究电离辐射对陆地生态系统及其组成部分的影响提供机会。 实验期间使用的辐射源是铯137（9500居里），一种伽马发射体。 在这项研究中，辐射源被放置在位于场中心的一座塔上，直到 1979 年，该场每天暴露 20 小时。辐射源周围的暴露率在几米范围内每天从几千伦琴不等。在 130 米处每天发出约 2 伦琴的辐射源。 拟议研究的工作假设是，根据土壤在距 Cs137 不同距离处暴露的辐射强度，不同类型的抗电离辐射微生物会存活下来。 实验方法包括将从伽马森林不同地点获得的土壤暴露于伽马辐射。 然后使用连续稀释和平板接种方法从土壤中分离微生物。 通过再次将培养物暴露于伽马辐射来确认对电离辐射的抵抗力。 所有分离的具有抗辐射能力的培养物都将使用分子方法进行鉴定。拟议的研究将影响环境科学、微生物学和生物技术等学科： 1. 有望分离出嗜酸/耐酸和耐辐射的新嗜极微生物在拟议的研究中。这些培养物可以在生物技术和环境科学领域有多种应用。 2. 该研究将扩展Biolog和16S rDNA数据库中的革兰氏阴性、革兰氏阳性、酵母和真菌培养物库。 这将有助于在类似领域工作的科学家轻松识别通过该项目将添加到数据库中的文化。拟议的项目将通过以下方式影响更广泛意义上的科学： 1. 通过该项目接受培训的学生将具有在经典微生物学方面有深入的研究经验，能够更好地为现代微生物技术的新概念做出贡献。 2. 该项目加强了社会多元化和经济弱势学生群体的教育体验，包括来自纽约市地区代表性不足群体的学生群体。 在道林学院，代表性不足的少数族裔接近学生人数的 50%，道林学院生物系的女性比例为 70%。 3. 此外，通过本项目资助获得的仪器将用于在生物学概论、微生物学和生物化学课程中进行新的实验室实验。 这将有助于为我们的社会培养更多受过科学训练的年轻人。