J. Coates, L. Achenbach
2006
Citations
2
Influential Citations
32
Citations
Journal
Journal name not available for this finding
Abstract
The field of microbial perchlorate reduction has clearly advanced significantly in a very short period from a poorly understood metabolism to a burgeoning scientific field of discovery. As outlined above, there is now a much greater appreciation of the microbiology involved and the application of the knowledge to the successful treatment of contaminated environments. Overall, the future is promising even though research in this field is still in its infancy. Nothing is known of the evolutionary root of this metabolism. From a biogeochemical perspective, a better understanding of how perchlorate is formed in the natural environment and what geochemical conditions are required for its formation might give some insight into plotting the metabolism against a realistic evolutionary timeline. From a microbial perspective, it will be important to look for this metabolism in more extreme environments such as hypersaline or hyperthermophilic environments to obtain DPRB isolates across a broader phylogeny to establish a broad-base molecular chronometer. With the development of this field comes a better understanding of the ideal electron donors available and the individual factors which truly control the activity of the these organisms in-situ allowing for the design of more effective and robust enhanced in situ bioremediation technologies.