Peng Peng

Name & affiliation
Peng Peng, Molecular Ecology, Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University

Function
PhD student

Education
2005-2009, BS Water Supply and Sewage Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, China
2009-2012, MS Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, China
2014-present, PhD student, Microbiology, Wageningen University

Research
My research is focused on getting insight into biodegradation of different halogenated compounds such as haloacid, inorganic halogenated salt like chlorate, and a variety of halo-aliphatic and -aromatic compounds. Our first aim was to find microbe(s) capable of growing on halogenated compounds as both electron donors and acceptors. based on genomic analysis, we selected Pseudomonas chloritidismutans AW-1 as potential degrader of  halo acid(s) coupled to chlorate reduction. To this this hypothesis, we will study the behaviour of this strain using both physiological and molecular approaches. Different haloacids will be used in combination with chlorate and upon successful growth,  genes expression pattern of the strain will be analysed using RT-q PCR . We will further search novel dehalogenating microbes from diverse environments under different electron donor/acceptor conditions and growth condition. One of the main aims is to find corrinoid independent dehalogenation mechanisms and also isolation of novel dehalogenating microbes from extreme environments with high salinity, low/high pH and temperature. Microbial community will be analysed by high-throughput sequencing such as Illumina MiSeq and (Meta)transcriptomics and (meta)proteomics will also be used for regulatory networks analysis of the enrichment/axenic cultures.

Contact
peng.peng@wur.nl