Dr. Jerome Kukor Assistant Professor Environmental Sciences Foran Hall, Room 316 59 Dudley Road Cook College, Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520 Phone: 732-932-8165 x318 Fax:  732-932-0312 Email: kukor@aesop.rutgers.edu Web: www.envsci.rutgers.edu/faculty, http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~kukorlab/

Education
B. A. (Biology & Philosophy), College of Steubenville, 1972
M. S. (Botany), University of Michigan, 1975
Ph. D. (Botany), University of Michigan, 1979

Research Interests
Research in our laboratory focuses on the determinants of biodegradability of xenobiotic compounds. The model system that is currently being investigated in detail is a study of mechanisms governing regulation of metabolic diversity for degradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (collectively designated BTEX), as well as the chlorinated solvents perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE).  These compounds have been chosen as model substrates because of their ubiquity as groundwater contaminants in the Unites States, and because they are a primary target of federal and state regulations aimed at aquifer restoration owing to their potential negative impact on human health.

The results of the past several years of research have led us to the conclusion that bacteria such as Ralstonia pickettii PKO1 are representative of a group of bacterial strains which, from our work to date, appear to be largely indistinguishable from closely related species by previous criteria, but which have evolved a suite of adaptive traits that allow for growth and oxygen metabolism in oxygen-limited environments.  These adaptive traits include the ability to carry out significant nitrate-dependent degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons under conditions of oxygen limitation; the presence of key catabolic enzymes with kinetic characteristics that allow for effective turnover of limiting substrates; and transcriptional enhancement of promoters of key catabolic operons linked to the onset of denitrification.  Such results have led us to advance the hypothesis that uniquely adapted bacteria are capable of degrading aromatic hydrocarbons in hypoxic aquifer environments by a physiological strategy of “oxygen sparing,” in which aerobic nitrate respiration allows for utilization of low residual levels of oxygen for critical substrate oxygenase reactions.  The immediate goal of this research is to further elucidate this adaptive strategy of microbial utilization of mixed electron acceptors from the perspective of “global regulation” of catabolic operons encoding critical aromatic oxygenases.  A longer range goal is to assess the functional role of such bacteria as components of complex microbial communities, with particular emphasis on their adaptation towards functionality in oligotrophic, oxygen-variable environments.

Recent Publications
Park, J., J. J. Kukor, and L. M. Abriola. 2002. TCE concentration dependence of TCE inducibility, cometabolism and toxicity in Ralstonia pickettii PKO1.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol.  (in review)

Cho, Y.-S., H.-Y. Kahng, J. J. Kukor, C.-K. Kim, and K.-H. Oh. 2002.  Physiological and cellular responses of the 2,4-D degrading bacterium,  Burkholderia cepacia YK-2, to the phenoxyherbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.  Appl. Environ. Microbiol. (in review)

Kukor, J. J., H.-Y. Kahng, K. Nam, and J. Malinverni. 2002.  Biodegradation of   aromatic fuel hydrocarbons under oxygen-limited conditions. J. Microbiol. (in press)

Nam, K., and J. J. Kukor. 2002. Bioavailability of organohalides.  In M. Häggblom and I. Bossert (ed.), Dehalogenation:  Microbial Processes and Environmental Applications. Kluwer Academic Press (in press)

Park, J., Y.-M. Chen, J. J. Kukor, and L. M. Abriola. 2001. Influence of substrate exposure history on biodegradation in a porous medium. J. Contam. Hydrol. 51:233-256.

Kahng, H.-Y., J. Malinverni, M. Majko, and J. J. Kukor. 2001. Genetic and functional analysis of the tbc operons for catabolism of alkyl- and chloroaromatic compounds in Burkholderia sp. strain JS150. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67:4805-4816.

Nam, K., W. Rodriguez, and J. J. Kukor. 2001. Enhanced degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by biodegradation combined with a modified Fenton reaction. Chemosphere 45:11-20.

Birdsall, K., J. J. Kukor, and M. A. Cheney. 2001. Uptake of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds by the gills of the bivalve mollusk Elliptio complanata. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 20:309-316.

Cheney, M. A., K. Birdsall, and J. J. Kukor. 2001. Uptake and diverse effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the metabolic activity of Elliptio complanata measured by calorespirometry. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 20:1031-1036.

Kahng, H.-Y., A. M. Byrne, R. H. Olsen, and J. J. Kukor. 2000.Characterization and role of tbuX in utilization of toluene by Ralstonia pickettii PKO1. J.Bacteriol. 182:1232-1242.

Kahng, H.-Y., J. J. Kukor, and K.-H. Oh. 2000. Characterization of strain HY99, a novel microorganism capable of aerobic and anaerobic degradation of aniline.FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 190:215-221.

Nam, K., and J. J. Kukor. 2000. Combined ozonation and biodegradation for remediation of mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil. Biodegradation11:1-9.

Kahng, H.-Y., J. J. Kukor, and K.-H. Oh. 2000. Physiological and phylogenetic analysis of Burkholderia sp. HY1 capable of aniline degradation. J. Microbiol.Biotechnol. 10:643-650.

Nam, K., and J. J. Kukor. 2000. Enhanced degradability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by combined chemical oxidation and biodegradation, p. 197-204. In G. B. Wickramanayake, A. R. Gavaskar, J. T. Gibbs, and J. L. Means (ed.) Case Studies in the Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds.  Battelle Press, Columbus, Ohio

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