Researchers at MSU were awarded $1 million this week for genetic research on bacteria that could help in the cleanup of facilities that were contaminated during the production of nuclear weapons.
U.S. Department of Energy officials, who awarded the grant, say the bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 can alter the state of contaminated metals, offering department officials another method for disposal and containment.
The bacteria has the ability to use various metals such as iron, manganese, sulfur and uranium in its metabolic processes. The processes alter the state of the metals, which affect how quickly the metals can move in the environment.
The three-year grant will assist the MSU team in determining which of the bacteria’s genes can trigger the metabolic processes.
“Right now, the focus of the project is called systems biology,” said Joel Klappenbach, a post doctoral associate on the project. “We want to try and understand every aspect of this bacterium.”
MSU researchers, in association with colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, are creating specialized microscope slides, which allow them to separate each gene in the organism and examine them separately. With the slides, researchers can monitor every gene at once and determine how the genes express themselves, Klappenbach said.
And at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington, researchers are studying the interactions of all the proteins in the cell.
Researchers from the three institutions hope to uncover the secrets and possible applications the bacteria could hold.
Other institutions in the project include the Institute for Systems Biology, the University of Hawaii and Argonne National Laboratory. The institutions make up the Shewanella Federation, a consortium of research institutions dedicated to developing applications for the bacterium.
“This is one of a number of grants from the Department of Energy,” said Jeff Sherwood, spokesman for the department.
Department officials said MSU has received several grants before, totaling millions of dollars for microbial research.
“(The) group is one of the best in the country - if not the world - in what they do,” said Bob Huggett, vice president for research and graduate studies at MSU. “I’m not at all surprised they got this grant.”
Staff writer Casey McNenly contributed to this report.
