Faculty Annual Report Printout

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture
ANNUAL REPORTING FORM

Mark Radosevich, Associate Professor
Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science
Annual Performance Period: January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006

A. SUMMARY AND IMPACTS.

1. Summary. Provide an overall summary (500 words or less) of your accomplishments during the reporting period.

Using atrazine-impregnated Bio-Sep® beads as an in situ enrichment method for sampling active soil microbiota, we were able to cultivate taxonomically diverse groups of atrazine degrading bacteria. Most notable among the bacteria isolated were three novel Beta and one novel Alpha-Proteobacteria. Also, a novel lineage within the CFB division was obtained, constituting the first report of the atrazine-degading phenotype within this division. Although not taxonomically novel, previously unreported atrazine-degrading taxa from Alpha-Proteobacteria (Caulobacter), Beta-Proteobacteria (Variovorax, Duganella, Schlegella, and Acidovorax), and Gamma-Proteobacteria (Rahnella and Pantoea) were also isolated. Evidence for metabolic diversity in atrazine catabolism was observed in the collection. Most significantly, the atrazine-chlorohydrolase gene encoded by trzN, was the only known catabolic gene detected in our collection with the exception of the Arthrobacter strains which usually also possessed atzB and atzC, that code for enzymes needed for sequential N-dealkylation of 2-hydroxy atrazine. No other known genes for the intermediate metabolism were detected in many of the isolates suggesting the presence of alternative degradative pathways for atrazine among soil bacteria. Previously, trzN has only been reported in high GC Gram-positive bacteria but our results revealed that this catabolic gene is much more broadly distributed among divisions including the Alpha and Beta-sub divisions of the Proteobacteria. The results demonstrate that BioSep beads are a suitable matrix for recruiting a highly diverse subset of the bacterial community involved in atrazine degradation and have the potential for isolation of other novel soil bacteria with unique metabolic phenotypes such production of antibiotics, other pharmaceuticals, and commercially valuable enzymes.

2. Impacts. List up to three significant impacts of your program. Impact statements should be one to three sentences and should be written in a way that would be meaningful to the public.

This research will result in an improved ability to assess the persistence and ecological impact of these economically important herbicides. This ability will ultimately result in management practices that minimize the adverse ecological impact of these chemicals.

The cultivation of new bacterial strains with the methods developed in this research provides an effective new bioprospecting tool and will lead to the discovery commercially valuable biomolecules such as biocontrol agents, antibiotics, enzymes (i.e. useful for biomass conversion in biofuels production), and other pharmaceutical compounds.

B. PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS (EXTENSION, RESEARCH AND TEACHING). As applicable, list title, names of participants (PIs, Leaders, Co-PIs, Co-leaders, Collaborators etc.), project number, sponsor, your role ( leader/co-leader/collaborator) and your percent effort on the project as stated in the project description or document.

Radosevich, M. (PI), D.C. White, and O.H. Tuovinen. 2004-07. Atrazine-Degrading Microbial Populations in Soil and Wetlands: Linking Degradation to Diversity. Funded by United States Dept. of Agriculture, Soil and Soil Biology Program. ($438,000). 15% effort

Wommack, K.E., M. Radosevich (C0-PI), and J.J. Fuhrmann. 2004-08. Incorporation of viruses into the ecological paradigms of soil microbial communities. Funded by United States Dept. of Agriculture, Soil and Soil Biology Program. ($455,000). 10% effort

C. INSTRUCTION, TEACHING AND EXTENSION EDUCATION. Detail credit and non-credit instruction and teaching activities.

1. College credit instruction. List courses in which you were an instructor or guest lecturer during the current calendar year. Include special topics, independent study and internship courses. Provide course number and title, your involvement, semester(s), credit hours and number of students. Please append a summary of teaching evaluations (student and/or peer) if this information is available.

Course number and title	Involvement	Semester	Credit hours	Number of students
ESS355 Environmental Soil Biology	Total	Spring	3	9
ESS210 Introduction to Soil Science	Total	Spring	4

2. Formal continuing education (certification programs, seminar series, in-service training, field days, faculty and/or staff training, journal club, etc.). Provide descriptive title of activity, your involvement, number of participants or students involved, number and duration of each session.

Descrip. title, including dates	Involvement	Number of students or participants	Number of sessions	Duration of each session (hours)

3. Extension presentations and workshops. Indicate title, type, and scope of presentation; number of times presented; attendance estimates. Include evidence of effectiveness (e.g. evaluation summaries) where applicable.

Title/Type of presentation	Scope	Number of times presented	Total attendees

4. Public addresses to lay audiences (TV/radio presentations, service groups, etc.). Indicate title, type, scope of presentation; number of times presented; attendance estimates. Include evidence of effectiveness (e.g. evaluation summaries) where applicable.

Title/Type of presentation	Scope	Number of times presented	Total attendees

5. Presentations at professional meetings, without published abstracts. List presenter, co-authors (if any), title, date and name of meeting (list scientific oral or poster presentations having published abstracts or proceedings at D5).

Invited seminar in Microbiology Department; University of Tennessee

6. Student mentoring. Fill in the boxes to indicate number of students in each category.

Level of students	No. of students advised	No. of active graduate committees on which you served as:
Level of students	No. of students advised	Major professor	Committee member
Undergraduate	3
Masters		1	8
Doctoral			5

7. Student or commodity club activities (e.g. club advisor, team competitions, honor or professional societies, etc.). List the club or group; your role with the club or group; and the activities, honors or awards received by this group under your mentorship.

8. Other instructional and teaching activities.

D. PUBLICATIONS. List only publications that were published during the annual reporting period (for #8, submitted during reporting period). Format citations as typical and appropriate for outlet. If a co-author(s) is a student or was working under your direct supervision, place an asterisk after that person's name.

1. Refereed articles or refereed reviews appearing in peer-reviewed professional journals.

Chun, S., J. Lee, M. Radosevich, D. White, and R. Geyer. 2006. Influence of agricultural antibiotics and 17beta estradiol on microbial community of soil. J. of Environ. Sci. & Health, 41:923-935.

J.P. Biggerstaff, M. Le Puil, B.L. Weidow, J. Prater*, K. Glass, and M. Radosevich. 2006. New methodology for viability testing in environmental samples. Molecular and Cellular Probes, 20:141-146.

2. Book chapters or books.

3. Bulletins, reports, circulars, pamphlets, factsheets.

4. Popular press, trade, UTIA magazine or newsletter articles.

5. Abstracts from scientific or discipline meetings, papers from conference proceedings, etc.

Ghosh, D.*, K. Roy, Martin, E.C., Williamson, K.E., Wommack, K.E., and M. Radosevich. 2006. Lysogeny and the Horizontal Transfer of Bacterial Genes in Soil Viral Communities. American Society for Microbiology, Orlando, FL.

Ghosh, D.*, K. Roy, White, D.C., Wommack, K.E., and M. Radosevich. 2006. Direct evidence for horizontal transfer of 16S rRNA gene via transduction. International Society for Microbial Ecology, Vienna, Austria.

Martin, E.C.*, D. Ghosh, K. Roy, Peacock, A., White, D.C., and M. Radosevich. 2006. Cultivation of Phylogenetically Diverse and Metabolically Novel Atrazine Degrading Soil Bacteria. American Society for Microbiology, Orlando, FL.

Martin, E.C.*, D. Ghosh, K. Roy, Peacock, A., White, D.C., and M. Radosevich. 2006. In Situ Enrichment with BioSep Beads Yields Diverse and Metabolically Novel Atrazine Degrading Soil Bacteria. International Society for Microbial Ecology, Vienna, Austria.

Radosevich, M.*, Martin, E.C., D. Ghosh, K. Roy, Peacock, A., and White, D.C.. 2006. In Situ Enrichment with BioSep Beads Yields Diverse and Metabolically Novel Atrazine Degrading Soil Bacteria. Soil Science Society of America. Indianapolis, IN.

Roy, K.*, D. Ghosh, White, D.C., Wommack, K.E., Williamson, K.E., and M. Radosevich. 2006. Soil bacterial communities sampled with BioSep beads exhibit a high frequency of lysogeny. International Society for Microbial Ecology, Vienna, Austria.

Williamson, K.E., Smith, D.W., M. Radosevich, and Wommack, K.E.. 2006. Assessing lysogenic interactions in soils: a cultivation-based approach. International Society for Microbial Ecology, Vienna, Austria.

6. Theses/Dissertations completed by students that you directed.

E.C. Martin* 2006. Cultivation of phylogentically diverse and metabolically novel atrazine-degrading bacteria using Bio-Sep beads.

7. Other publications.

8. Articles submitted during the reporting period that are in review, in press or rejected. Please do not list articles in preparation.

Williamson, K.E., M. Radosevich, Schnitker, J.B., Smith, D.W., and Wommack, K.E.. 2006. Cultivation-Based Assessment of Lysogenic Interactions Between Bacteria and Bacteriophages in Soils. Env. Microbiol. (in review)

Williamson, K.E., M. Radosevich, Smith, D.W., and Wommack, K.E.. 2006. Incidence of lysogeny within temperatre and extreme soil environments. Env. Microbiol. (in review)

Rhine, E.D.*, and M. Radosevich. 2006. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Atrazine-Ammended Soil Microcosms. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. (rejected)

E. FUNDING. Format each entry as a citation, include as applicable: investigators (with percent effort shown on grant or contract document), title, source/agency.

1. Grant and contract proposals submitted but not awarded during this reporting period. Indicate date of submission and status (still pending, rejected).

David C. White (35%), M. Radosevich (20%), F. R. Walker (15%), N. S. Eash (15%), M. E. Essington (15%). Environmentally sustainable mgt. of soil phosphorus through elucidation of microbial responses.... USDA CSREES. 1/18/06. $498,638. (rejected)

D.C. White (50%), M. Radosevich (25%), Aaron Peacock (%), Brett Baldwin (%), David Watson (%). Effect of microbial community dynamic biomass, composition, activity & phage perturbation . . .. Dept. of Energy Office of Science. 6/15/06. $900,000. (rejected)

McCarthy, J.F. (30%), M. Radosevich (%), Zhuang, J. (%), Wander, M. (%), Simunek (%). Sequestration of dissolved organic carbon in deep soil horizons: effect of tillage. USDA-CSREES-NRI. 1/18/06. $455,074. (rejected)

Oliver, S. (25%), M. Radosevich (25%). Temporal changes inmicrobial diversity of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in dairy farm soils with . USDA-CSREES-NRI. 1/18/06. $500,000. (rejected)

2. Grants and contracts awarded during this reporting period. List inclusive period of support (start and end dates) and total amount of award.

3. Grants and contracts awarded in past years that continued into this reporting period. List inclusive period of support (start and end dates) and total amount of award.

Radosevich, M. (40%), David C. White (40%), John Biggerstaff (20%), Olli Tuovinen (00%). Atrazine-Degrading Microbial Populations in Soil and Wetlands: Linking Degradation to Diversity. NRI. 9/1/04-8/31/07. $438,000.

Radosevich, M. (100%). Incorporation of Viruses into the Ecological Paradigms of Soil Microbial Communities. USDA CSREES. 9/1/04-8/31/08. $151,611.

4. Gifts. List recipients, donor, items or amount donated and dollar equivalent received during the reporting period.

5. Grant reports submitted. List authors, title, to whom submitted, date submitted.

6. Other (e.g. sales, royalties).

F. OTHER CREATIVE ACTIVITIES.

1. Tech. advances (intell. prop., patent, copyright, products, processes, genetic lines/varieties).
2. Computer software (e.g. instructional or research software, CD ROMs).
3. Educational tools.
4. Internet activities.
5. Other creative products and activities.

G. SERVICE. List client outreach activities (both public and private sectors) and professional service.


1. Client service.
	a. Commodity or discipline group service activities. List committees, offices held or other roles. Regional Research Committee W-1082; Chair
	b. Clinical and diagnostic services. List type of service provided and client(s).
	c. Service to individual producers, businesses, or corporations as a specialist, consultant or expert advisor (whether paid or unpaid). List your one-on-one service activities with this group of clients.
	d. Other (e.g. Ag Day activities, Varsity Visit, judging, presentations at clubs and K-12 schools).
2. Professional service (for professional colleagues).
	a. Within the university.
		I. Committee work. Briefly describe your involvement during the reporting period.
			i. University. Associate Director, Center for Biomarker Analysis
			ii. UTIA. Bylaws Committee (Chair) Honors Committee Plant Biotech Building Committee Ad Hoc Committee for Dean Klindt to develop alternative approaches for managing Hatch research projects
			iii. Department. Promotion and Tenure Awards Committee
		II. Other (e.g. technical assistance to colleagues, peer reviews, mentoring of junior faculty, hosting visiting scientists).
	b. Outside the university (e.g. committee work/offices in professional or public organizations or societies, editorship, editorial boards, review of manuscripts (indicate outlet) and project proposals (indicate agency), meetings organized, member of grant review panel or study section, moderator, etc.). Manuscript reviews; Environmental Science and Tecnology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Microbial Ecology Proposal reviews: NSF and USDA-SBIR program

H. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (meetings, workshops, classes, trips, etc.). List the event or activity, sponsor, duration of event and your role.

I. PERSONNEL SUPERVISION. List the postdoctoral fellows, research associates, research assistants, technicians, extension associates, extension assistants, graduate assistants, undergraduate students, clerical personnel or others that you supervised during the year.

Classification	FTE's per semester
Classification	Spring	Summer	Fall
Postdoctoral fellows	1	1	1
Research associates, assistants, technicians	1	1	1
Extension associates, assistants
Graduate students, assistants	1	1	1
Undergraduate students	3	2	0
Clerical personnel
Other

J. HONORS AND AWARDS. List honors and awards received during reporting period, including the name of the organization presenting the award.