Enzymes in the Environment: Critically Assessing Our State of Knowledge Across Different Ecosystems
Type: Workshop
Date: March 15-18 2010
Location: Colorado State University
The RCN: Enzymes in the Environment held its first workshop March 14-17, 2010 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Our goals were to bring together several experts from various systems (aquatic, sediment and soil) and facilitate discussions concerning scientific and methodological challenges in environmental enzymology. Participants of the workshop were Richard Burns (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia), Jared DeForest (Ohio University), Brian Hill(US EPA, Duluth, Minnesota), Jürgen Marxsen (Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany), Shawna McMahon (Colorado State University),Robert Sinsabaugh (University of New Mexico), J. Megan Steinweg (Colorado State Univerity), Mary Stromberger (Colorado State University), Matt Wallenstein (Colorado State University), Michael Weintraub (Univeristy of Toledo, Ohio), and Annamaria Zoppini (IRSA, Water Research Institute, Rome, Italy).
The workshop began with a welcome gathering at the home of Matt Wallenstein Sunday evening. Monday began with Burns presenting his perspectives of enzymology, from the past, present and future. Scientific challenges in terrestrial and aquatic enzymology were presented and discussed in morning and afternoon sessions, led by Sinsabaugh, Zoppini and Hill. Marxsen ended the day’s gathering with some ideas on how to link aquatic, sediment and soil systems by identifying commonalities among the three environments. Tuesday morning we gathered to discuss methodological challenges in environmental enzymology, with much discussion on the need to improve oxidative enzyme, problems encountered in fluorimetric assays, and possible solutions. We concluded with an early afternoon gathering to propose outcomes of the workshop. On Wednesday morning we discussed future RCN activities, including additional workshops and symposia, and outlined the major outcomes of the workshop. The first outcome was a list of experiments that will be conducted to test different substrates for phenol oxidase and peroxidase enzymes, MUB fluorescence across a range of buffer pH, and strategies for dealing with quenching. We will describe the results of these experiments on the RCN website, and will recommendations that ultimately will improve assays and reduce analytical variability. The second outcome will be a “Perspectives” paper to be published in a peer-reviewed journal that will describe the significance of enzymology research, major challenges in environmental enzymology, and future applications of enzyme research.<p ">The workshop was a great success that fostered interactions and open communication among enzyme researchers from diverse backgrounds. In addition to the workshop discussions held at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State Univeristy, additional contact times were provided during meals and a brewery tour so that the participants could interact while enjoying historic Fort Collins.
Workshop Presentations
The slides from the presentations can be downloaded below and are for individual information only—please contact speakers for permission before using presentation contents in other applications.
- Richard Burns, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Environmental Enzymology: Past, Present and Future Perspectives
- Robert Sinsabaugh, University of New Mexico
- Big Questions and Challenges: Enzymes in Terrestrial Environments
- Annamaria Zoppini, Water Research Institute & National Research Council, Rome, Italy
- Big Questions and Challenges: Enzymes in Aquatic Environments Pt. 1
- Brian Hill, Environmental Protection Agency
- Big Questions and Challenges: Enzymes in Aquatic Environments Pt. 2
- Jürgen Marxsen, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
- Big Questions and Challenges: Linking Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments
- J. Megan Steinweg, Colorado State University
- Measuring the Temperature Sensitivity of Enzyme Activity