Kevin R. Sowers

Reductive Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Marine Sediments. (1998)

Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D., Cutter, Leach, Berkaw, Mary, Pulliam, Tracey R.

Partial Contents: Reductive Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Marine Sediments, Microbial Dechlorination of 2,3,5,6-Tetrachlorobiphenyl under Anaerobic Conditions in the Absence of Soil...

Collaborative Research: Microbal Reductive Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in Estuarine and Marine Coastal Sediments (1998)

Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

For many years researchers have tried to identify and monitor PCB dechlorinating bacteria. Strains o-17 and DF-1 are the first PCB dechlorinating bacteria to be identified. These organisms have...

Reductive Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBS) in Marine Harbor Sediments (1998)

Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D., Briseid, Tormod

For the first time reductive dechlorination of PCBs was shown to occur in marine and estuarine microcosms from sites with ambient temperatures below 10 degrees centigrade. It was shown that the types...

Graduate and Undergraduate Training in Marine Environmental Biotechnology (1998)

Sowers, Kevin R.

The overall objective of this project was to enable students to participate and contribute to our ongoing research on the identification and characterization of microbes that catalyze polychlorinated...

Assessment of PCB-dehalogenating Potential In Coastal Sediments (1998)

Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D., Watts, Joy E. M.

Molecular probes developed during the course of this ONR funded project were successfully used for both qualitative and quantitative assessment of PCB dechlorinating bacteria in PCB impacted sites....

A genetic system for Archaea of the genus Methanosarcina: Liposome-mediated transformation and construction of shuttle vectors

Metcalf, William W., Zhang, Jun Kai, Apolinario, Ethel, Sowers, Kevin R., Wolfe, Ralph S.

New methods that allow, for the first time, genetic analysis in Archaea of the genus Methanosarcina are presented. First, several autonomously replicating plasmid shuttle vectors have been...

Establishment of a Polychlorinated Biphenyl-Dechlorinating Microbial Consortium, Specific for Doubly Flanked Chlorines, in a Defined, Sediment-Free Medium

Wu, Qingzhong, Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

Estuarine sediment from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, was used as inoculum for the development of an anaerobic enrichment culture that specifically dechlorinates doubly flanked chlorines (i.e.,...

An Archaeal Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase Missing from Genomic Analysis

Hamann, Christian S., Sowers, Kevin R., Lipman, Richard S. A., Hou, Ya-Ming

The complete genomic sequencing of Methanococcus jannaschii cannot identify the gene for the cysteine-specific member of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. However, we show here that enzyme activity is...

Microbial Reductive Dechlorination of Aroclor 1260 in Anaerobic Slurries of Estuarine Sediments

Wu, Qingzhong, Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

Reductive dechlorination of Aroclor 1260 was investigated in anaerobic slurries of estuarine sediments from Baltimore Harbor (Baltimore, Md.). The sediment slurries were amended with 800 ppm Aroclor...

Characterization of a Defined 2,3,5,6-Tetrachlorobiphenyl-ortho-Dechlorinating Microbial Community by Comparative Sequence Analysis of Genes Coding for 16S rRNA

Pulliam Holoman, Tracey R., Elberson, Margaret A., Cutter, Leah A., May, Harold D., Sowers, Kevin R.

Defined microbial communities were developed by combining selective enrichment with molecular monitoring of total community genes coding for 16S rRNAs (16S rDNAs) to identify potential...

Microbial Dechlorination of 2,3,5,6-Tetrachlorobiphenyl under Anaerobic Conditions in the Absence of Soil or Sediment

Cutter, Leah, Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

Bacterial enrichment cultures developed with Baltimore Harbor (BH) sediments were found to reductively dechlorinate 2,3,5,6-tetrachlorobiphenyl (2,3,5,6-CB) when incubated in a minimal estuarine...

Identification of a Bacterium That Specifically Catalyzes the Reductive Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls with Doubly Flanked Chlorines

Wu, Qingzhong, Watts, Joy E. M., Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

A microorganism whose growth is linked to the dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with doubly flanked chlorines was identified. Identification was made by reductive analysis of...

Disaggregation of Methanosarcina spp. and Growth as Single Cells at Elevated Osmolarity

Sowers, Kevin R., Boone, Jane E., Gunsalus, Robert P.

The effect of medium osmolarity on the morphology and growth of Methanosarcina barkeri, Methanosarcina thermophila, Methanosarcina mazei, Methanosarcina vacuolata, and Methanosarcina acetivorans was...

The Genome of M. acetivorans Reveals Extensive Metabolic and Physiological Diversity

Galagan, James E., Nusbaum, Chad, Roy, Alice, Endrizzi, Matthew G., Macdonald, Pendexter, FitzHugh, Will, ...

Methanogenesis, the biological production of methane, plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle and contributes significantly to global warming. The majority of methane in nature is derived...

Methanosarcina acetivorans sp. nov., an Acetotrophic Methane-Producing Bacterium Isolated from Marine Sediments

Sowers, Kevin R., Baron, Stephen F., Ferry, James G.

A new acetotrophic marine methane-producing bacterium that was isolated from the methane-evolving sediments of a marine canyon is described. Exponential phase cultures grown with sodium acetate...

Isolation and Characterization of a Methylotrophic Marine Methanogen, Methanococcoides methylutens gen. nov., sp. nov

Sowers, Kevin R., Ferry, James G.

A new genus of marine methanogenic bacteria is described that utilizes trimethylamine, diethylamine, monomethylamine, and methanol as substrates for growth and methanogenesis. Methane was not...

Development of a Plasmid-Mediated Reporter System for In Vivo Monitoring of Gene Expression in the Archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans

Apolinario, Ethel E., Jackson, Karin M., Sowers, Kevin R.

A plasmid-based gene reporter system has been developed to construct lacZ gene fusions for monitoring intrinsic promoter expression in Methanosarcina acetivorans. Constructs transform with high...

Sequential Reductive Dechlorination of meta-Chlorinated Polychlorinated Biphenyl Congeners in Sediment Microcosms by Two Different Chloroflexi Phylotypes

Fagervold, Sonja K., Watts, Joy E. M., May, Harold D., Sowers, Kevin R.

Three species within a deeply branching cluster of the Chloroflexi are the only microorganisms currently known to anaerobically transform polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by the mechanism of...

A genetic system for Archaea of the genus Methanosarcina: Liposome-mediated transformation and construction of shuttle vectors

Metcalf, William W., Zhang, Jun Kai, Apolinario, Ethel, Sowers, Kevin R., Wolfe, Ralph S.

New methods that allow, for the first time, genetic analysis in Archaea of the genus Methanosarcina are presented. First, several autonomously replicating plasmid shuttle vectors have been...

Establishment of a Polychlorinated Biphenyl-Dechlorinating Microbial Consortium, Specific for Doubly Flanked Chlorines, in a Defined, Sediment-Free Medium

Wu, Qingzhong, Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

Estuarine sediment from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, was used as inoculum for the development of an anaerobic enrichment culture that specifically dechlorinates doubly flanked chlorines (i.e.,...

An Archaeal Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase Missing from Genomic Analysis

Hamann, Christian S., Sowers, Kevin R., Lipman, Richard S. A., Hou, Ya-Ming

The complete genomic sequencing of Methanococcus jannaschii cannot identify the gene for the cysteine-specific member of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. However, we show here that enzyme activity is...

Microbial Reductive Dechlorination of Aroclor 1260 in Anaerobic Slurries of Estuarine Sediments

Wu, Qingzhong, Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

Reductive dechlorination of Aroclor 1260 was investigated in anaerobic slurries of estuarine sediments from Baltimore Harbor (Baltimore, Md.). The sediment slurries were amended with 800 ppm Aroclor...

Characterization of a Defined 2,3,5,6-Tetrachlorobiphenyl-ortho-Dechlorinating Microbial Community by Comparative Sequence Analysis of Genes Coding for 16S rRNA

Pulliam Holoman, Tracey R., Elberson, Margaret A., Cutter, Leah A., May, Harold D., Sowers, Kevin R.

Defined microbial communities were developed by combining selective enrichment with molecular monitoring of total community genes coding for 16S rRNAs (16S rDNAs) to identify potential...

Microbial Dechlorination of 2,3,5,6-Tetrachlorobiphenyl under Anaerobic Conditions in the Absence of Soil or Sediment

Cutter, Leah, Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

Bacterial enrichment cultures developed with Baltimore Harbor (BH) sediments were found to reductively dechlorinate 2,3,5,6-tetrachlorobiphenyl (2,3,5,6-CB) when incubated in a minimal estuarine...

Identification of a Bacterium That Specifically Catalyzes the Reductive Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls with Doubly Flanked Chlorines

Wu, Qingzhong, Watts, Joy E. M., Sowers, Kevin R., May, Harold D.

A microorganism whose growth is linked to the dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with doubly flanked chlorines was identified. Identification was made by reductive analysis of...

Disaggregation of Methanosarcina spp. and Growth as Single Cells at Elevated Osmolarity

Sowers, Kevin R., Boone, Jane E., Gunsalus, Robert P.

The effect of medium osmolarity on the morphology and growth of Methanosarcina barkeri, Methanosarcina thermophila, Methanosarcina mazei, Methanosarcina vacuolata, and Methanosarcina acetivorans was...

The Genome of M. acetivorans Reveals Extensive Metabolic and Physiological Diversity

Galagan, James E., Nusbaum, Chad, Roy, Alice, Endrizzi, Matthew G., Macdonald, Pendexter, FitzHugh, Will, ...

Methanogenesis, the biological production of methane, plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle and contributes significantly to global warming. The majority of methane in nature is derived...

Methanosarcina acetivorans sp. nov., an Acetotrophic Methane-Producing Bacterium Isolated from Marine Sediments

Sowers, Kevin R., Baron, Stephen F., Ferry, James G.

A new acetotrophic marine methane-producing bacterium that was isolated from the methane-evolving sediments of a marine canyon is described. Exponential phase cultures grown with sodium acetate...

Isolation and Characterization of a Methylotrophic Marine Methanogen, Methanococcoides methylutens gen. nov., sp. nov

Sowers, Kevin R., Ferry, James G.

A new genus of marine methanogenic bacteria is described that utilizes trimethylamine, diethylamine, monomethylamine, and methanol as substrates for growth and methanogenesis. Methane was not...

Development of a Plasmid-Mediated Reporter System for In Vivo Monitoring of Gene Expression in the Archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans

Apolinario, Ethel E., Jackson, Karin M., Sowers, Kevin R.

A plasmid-based gene reporter system has been developed to construct lacZ gene fusions for monitoring intrinsic promoter expression in Methanosarcina acetivorans. Constructs transform with high...

Sequential Reductive Dechlorination of meta-Chlorinated Polychlorinated Biphenyl Congeners in Sediment Microcosms by Two Different Chloroflexi Phylotypes

Fagervold, Sonja K., Watts, Joy E. M., May, Harold D., Sowers, Kevin R.

Three species within a deeply branching cluster of the Chloroflexi are the only microorganisms currently known to anaerobically transform polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by the mechanism of...

The Methanosarcina barkeri Genome: Comparative Analysis with Methanosarcina acetivorans and Methanosarcina mazei Reveals Extensive Rearrangement within Methanosarcinal Genomes▿ †

Maeder, Dennis L., Anderson, Iain, Brettin, Thomas S., Bruce, David C., Gilna, Paul, Han, Cliff S., ...

We report here a comparative analysis of the genome sequence of Methanosarcina barkeri with those of Methanosarcina acetivorans and Methanosarcina mazei. The genome of M. barkeri is distinguished by...

Microbial Reductive Dechlorination of Aroclor 1260 in Baltimore Harbor Sediment Microcosms Is Catalyzed by Three Phylotypes within the Phylum Chloroflexi▿

Fagervold, Sonja K., May, Harold D., Sowers, Kevin R.

The specific dechlorination pathways for Aroclor 1260 were determined in Baltimore Harbor sediment microcosms developed with the 11 most predominant congeners from this commercial mixture and their...

Dehalorespiration with Polychlorinated Biphenyls by an Anaerobic Ultramicrobacterium▿

May, Harold D., Miller, Greg S., Kjellerup, Birthe V., Sowers, Kevin R.

Anaerobic microbial dechlorination is an important step in the detoxification and elimination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), but a microorganism capable of coupling its growth to PCB...