Data Driven Hypothesis Modelling of Dehalococcoides Mccartyi
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DATA DRIVEN HYPOTHESIS MODELLING OF DEHALOCOCCOIDES MCCARTYI : PREDICTED BIOLOGY AND BIOMARKERS OF STRESS IN TWO MIXED MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Cresten Brant Mansfeldt January 2013 © 2013 Cresten Brant Mansfeldt DATA DRIVEN HYPOTHESIS MODELLING OF DEHALOCOCCOIDES MCCARTYI : PREDICTED BIOLOGY AND BIOMARKERS OF STRESS IN TWO MIXED MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES Cresten Brant Mansfeldt, Ph. D. Cornell University, 2013 Transcriptomic and proteomic expression levels were examined in two Dehalococcoides mccartyi (DMC)-containing mixed community cultures (D2 and the commercially available KB- 1®). These reductively organodehalorespiring communities were subjected to a wide range of feeding conditions in regards to electron acceptor type, electron donor type, feeding rate, and additions of known stressors. The electron acceptors included chloroethenes, chlorophenols, and chlorobenzenes. D2- specific and genus-wide (pangenome) microarrays monitored the transcriptional response. Clustering of D2’s transcriptome formed distinct groupings of genes responding either positively, negatively, or indifferently to increased chloroethene respiration rate. The transcripts responding positively to respiration potentially participate in DMC’s incompletely described electron transport chain. Correlation analysis inferred putative relationships in the regulation of reductive dehalogenases (RDases) and small electron carriers such as glutaredoxin and thioredoxin. Differential expression comparisons across electron acceptor types also highlighted the potential role of the RDases DET1559 and pceA (DET0318) in chloro-aromatic respiration. To comprehend more fully the transcriptomic data, the Reverse Engineering/Forward SimulationTM Bayesian network inference platform predicted a sparse set of confident gene-to- gene and gene-to-condition relationships. Conditions included metabolite levels, phenotypic respiration rates, or the existence of stressors. Strong interactions were noted across the D2 and KB-1® mixed communities for a positive relationship between the S-Layer cell wall protein and a major RDase (tceA in D2 and vcrA in KB-1®) as well as a positive interaction between the hydrogenase hup and the formate dehydrogenase. Applying a network inference algorithm to the D2 and KB-1® communities’ transcriptome behavior created a data-driven predictive tool. This tool allows for hypothesis generation for hundreds of genes in the inferred network. Combining the transcriptomic with proteomic data for stress conditions allowed a targeted detection of diagnostic biomarkers. Across the stressful conditions investigated for DMC (electron donor limitation as well as solvent, oxygen, and pH stress) DnaJ and HspR (DET1411-1412) appeared up-regulated. Due to their centrality in the cell and high background noise, they may prove to be difficult in situ biomarkers. Instead, the linking of a methylglyoxal synthase (DET0146) to solvent and the superoxide dismutase operon (DET0954-0965) to oxidative stress should be pursued as potential diagnostic field site indicators. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Cresten grew up in the alternatingly frozen and burning state of Minnesota. He stayed transfixed for undergrad and attended the University of Minnesota where he graduated in 2007 with a Bachelors in Civil Engineering. Following the allure of the East Coast, Cresten ended up in the hills of upstate New York, mostly because of his crazy tour guides. Ever since, science and eccentricity have suited him quite well. iii “If he was half as good as he thought he was, He would be twice as good as he was.” - Phyllis Mansfeldt (a.k.a. Grandma) About Frank Lloyd Wright. In a museum. Very loudly. (…I dedicate this to my mom, for having me). iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The stoplight outside of my lab window has kept me company through most of the writing process of this thesis. The simple controlled rhythm, the red, the green, the little blinky hand, reminds me of the pace of my graduate career and all of those I have to thank for being here and assisting me along the way. Green. Go. I am eternally in debt to those who launched me into this world. My parents serve as a great inspiration of how to approach being a human. They sacrificed substantially to ensure that my sister and I were able to lead a comfortable and productive life. Dad, the man of ink, of bass and steel, of electricity and fictional birds, thank you for teaching me how to humbly push against a world set to embarrass and cause harm. Mom, the woman in the yellow shirt, in the car and classroom, in the armor and fiery rage, thank you for teaching me compassion, rebellion, and individuality. My sister, Giliane, my comrade in-arms, my best and oldest friend, thank you for teaching me how to imagine and hope. Blinking hand. Transition’s ahead, plan. I was steered into the world of environmental engineering by numerous incredible teachers. Thank you, Mr. Enderton, for teaching the beauty surrounding mathematics. Newton sits on my shelf to this day. Thank you, Dr. Bill Arnold, for teaching such a great introduction to environmental engineering course that I end up as a dishwasher. Seriously. Thank you, Dr. Tim LaPara, for continuously challenging me and encouraging me to go to grad school. And finally, thank you Dr. Paige Novak. I would not be here without you. Yellow. Let’s be honest, speed up to make it through. I would have mentally crashed years ago were it not for the professional and personal relationships I have here at Cornell University. Often, they blur. To Dr. Ruth Richardson, thank you for taking on a young 21 year- v old. As an advisor, your mentorship and guidance have not only made me (hopefully) a better researcher, but also a better person. I can never thank you enough. To Dr. James Gossett and Dr. Stephen Zinder, thank you for always finding the time to assist me with my small to major research problems. The incredible expertise, talent, and inquisitives both of you display in all areas of life is truly stunning. To Dr. Lorenz Adrian, thank you for the incredible experience and showing me the German side of science. To Dr. Elizabeth Edwards, thank you for always providing input and generally being supportive of our lab. To Boris and Bruce at GNS Healthcare and Mike at EMSL, you guys have continuously saved me. To the PSS Posse, Annie and Gretchen, to make the complex simple, thank you. You both provided an unmatched collaborator and second family. To Ben Logsdon for his help on the networks, running long distances, and finishing the scotch; to Brian Rahm for coining PSS, mad board game and DJ skills; Laura Hug, without your continued assistance, I would have gone mad; to Jenny Nelson for chlorobenzenes and softball; to Heather Fullerton for trading shop stories of DMC and snarky comments about bands; to Annie O. and the high pitched whining machine; to Garrett, the culturing king; to Ju Khuan and Sage; to all of you, thank you for your help and input on my research. To my friends, my family away from home, to detail how much you’ve meant to me would fill far more pages than my thesis. So, in brief as this yellow is about to change, to Ben Heavner, my political ally, thank you for RoboCop. To Mike B, for the hike; Cloe for the walking tour; Sarah Short for always being right; Rick for always being wrong; Pete for the after work beers; Mark J. for the scotch; Howarth for being a pack of flying invisible space bears; Kassie for the Moon; Ross for Mars; Pinshane for space on the couch; Arend for space on the floor; all the micro men and women; the trivia team; the fancy poker crew; the GPSA; and all of vi Stewart Little; thank you. Rendina, you are the only one I am not going to thank. You know why. To Punita, thank you for always having space on your couch, whether it was in Ithaca or England. To Madeline, I take back my previous statement: you get no thanks as well. And to those I forgot, I am writing this at four in the morning, so I thank you for your understanding. The all red. What engineers don’t often tell you is that for a brief moment all traffic stops. Everything halts to let the chaos that remains in the intersection to clear before traffic flows again. I have found that brief peace sitting next to you, Melina. I have no idea where the traffic of life will take me next when this light changes, but I will probably figure it out sitting next to you. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Biographical Sketch iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents viii List of Tables xii List of Figures xiv CHAPTER 1: Introduction and Research Objectives 1 1.A. History of Chlorinated Organics 1 1.B. Discovery of Reductively Dehalogenating Organisms 3 1.C. Genome Functional Annotation 4 1.D. From Biomolecules to Biomarkers 5 1.E. Insights Gained from Analyzing Omic Datasets 6 1.F. Rationale for Research Initiative 7 1.G. Research Objectives 9 References 10 CHAPTER 2: Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain 195’s Genome-wide 15 Transcriptomic Response to a Range of Respiration Rates and Substrate Types with a Focus on the Expression of Reductive Dehalogenases. 2.A. Abstract 16 2.B. Introduction 17 2.C. Materials and Methods 20 2.C.1. Continous feed setup 20 2.C.2. Culture growth conditions 20 2.C.3. Gas chromatography monitoring 21 2.C.4. Calculation of respiration rates 22 2.C.5. Microarray design 23 2.C.6. RNA-cDNA handling for microarray monitoring 24 2.C.7. Microarray hybridization and scanning 24 2.C.8. Statistical treatment of the data set 25 2.D. Results 25 2.D.1.