DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES

Research Interests

Dr Aristilde’s areas of expertise are in the combined application of experimental and computational tools in chemistry and biochemistry to gain novel molecular insights underlying the dynamics of organics in environmental processes. The goal of the Aristilde Group is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the “why” and “how” of the environmental behavior of organics, with implications for nutrient cycling, ecosystem health, agricultural productivity, and environmental biotechnology. Her group seeks to figure out the mechanisms responsible for the physical and biological fates. The current research activities of her group are focused on (i) cellular carbon metabolism of organic substrates in environmental bacteria, (ii) catalytic dynamics of nutrient-cycling extracellular enzymes, (iii) the physical chemistry of biomolecules and organic contaminants in environmental matrices, (iv) molecular ecotoxicological targets of organic contaminants.

Selected Publications

Park Y., Thongsonboom W., Solhtalab M., Aristilde L. (2022) Strategies of organic phosphorus recycling by soil bacteria: acquisition, metabolism, and regulation, Environmental Microbiology Reports, in press, doi: doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.13040

Li W., Wilkes R.A., Aristilde L. (2022) Effects of phosphonate herbicides on the secretions of plant-beneficial compounds by two plant growth-promoting bacteria: A metabolomics investigation, ACS Environmental Au, in press, doi: 10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00030.

Glaser M., Richards B., Steenhius T.S., Aristilde L. (2022) Interactions of phosphonate herbicides with quartz, montmorillonite, and silt-loam agricultural soil: Molecular simulations and adsorption-desorption experiments, Soil Science Society of America Journal, in press, doi: doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20351.

Wilkes R.A., Waldbauer J., Aristilde L. (2021) Analogous metabolic decoupling in Pseudomonas putida and Comamonas testosteroni implies energetic bypass to facilitate gluconeogeonic growth, mBio, 12, e03259-21.

Kelch S.E., Ferrage E., Youngmann R.E., Basinski J.J., Wang J., Aristilde L. (2021) Quantitative spectroscopic analysis of water populations in the hydrated nanopore environments of a natural montmorillonite, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 125, 26552–26565.

Park Y., Malliakas C., Zhou Q., Gu A.Z., Aristilde L. Molecular coordination, structure, and stability of metal-polyphosphate complexes resolved by molecular modeling and X-ray scattering: Structural insights into biological fate of polyphosphate, Environmental Science and Technology, 55, 1511–1524.

Klein A.R., Sarri S., *Kelch S., *Basinski J., Vaydya S., Aristilde L. (2021) Probing the fate of different structures of beta-lactam antibiotics: hydrolysis, mineral capture, and influence of organic matter. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 5, 1511–1524.

Solhtalab M., Klein A.R., Aristilde L. (2021) Hierarchical reactivity in enzyme-mediated phosphorus recycling from organic mixtures by Aspergillus niger phytase. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 69, 2295-2305.

Guilvaiee B.H., Aristilde L. (2021) Redox-related metabolic dynamics imprinted on short-chain carboxylic acids in soil water extracts: A ¹³C exometabolomics Analysis. Environmental Science and Technology Letters, 8, 183-191.

Mendonca C.M., Yoshitake S., **Wei H., Werner A., *Sasnow S.S., Thannhauser T., Aristilde L. (2020) Hierarchical routing in carbon metabolism favors iron-scavenging strategy in iron-deficient soil Pseudomonas species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117, 32358-32369.

Cyle K.T., **Klein A.R., Aristilde L., Martinez C.E. (2020) Ecophysiological study of Paraburkholderia sp. 1N under soil solution conditions: Dynamic substrate preferences and characterization of carbon use efficiency. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 86, e01851-

Mendonca C.M., Wilkes R.A., Aristilde L. (2020) Advancements in ¹³C isotope tracking of synergistic substrate co-utilization in Pseudomonas species and implications for biotechnology applications. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 64, 124-133.

Ankrah N.Y.D., *Wilkes R.A., Zhang F.Q., Zhu D., Kaweesi T., Aristilde L., Douglas A.E. (2020) The metabolome of associations between xylem-feeding insects and their bacterial symbionts. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 46, 735-744.

Ankrah N.Y.D., *Wilkes R.A., Zhang F.Q., Zhu D., Kaweesi T., Aristilde L., Douglas A.E. (2020) Syntrophic splitting of central carbon metabolism in host cells bearing functionally-different symbiotic bacteria. The ISME Journal, 14, 1982–1993.

Mendonca C.M., Wilkes R.A., Aristilde L. (2020) Advancements in ¹³C isotope tracking of synergistic substrate co-utilization in Pseudomonas species and implications for biotechnology applications. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 64, 124-133.