δ15N values for TNT extracted from soil. These
Coffin, R.B. (1989) Bacterial uptake of peptides
and proteins in the Delaware Estuary. Limnology
results indicate that further investigation into both
and Oceanography, 34: 531542.
the understanding of the fractionation processes and
the methodology to measure them is warranted.
Coffin, R.B., D. Velinsky, R. Devereux, W .A.
Two important pieces of information, though,
Price, and L. Cifuentes (1990) Stable carbon iso-
surfaced out of these studies. First, the δ13C and
tope analysis of nucleic acids to trace sources of
δ15N values for TNT from multiple sources have
dissolved substrate used by estuarine bacteria.
been documented. These sources include analyti-
Applied Environmental Microbiology, 56: 20122020.
cal, technical, and military sources (from the U.S.
Coffin, R.B. and L.A. Cifuentes (1993)
and Europe). The second important point to note
Approaches for measuring stable carbon and ni-
is that the sample preparation technology com-
trogen isotopes in bacteria. In Handbook of Meth-
monly used for extraction of TNT from either
ods in Aquatic Microbial Ecology (P.F. Kemp, B.F.
water or soil does not introduce an element of iso-
Sherr, E.B. Sherr, and J.J. Cole, Eds.). Boca Raton,
topic fractionation. These data may be used in
Florida: Lewis Publishers.
future endeavors to determine the source of TNT
Coffin, R.B., L.A. Cifuentes, and P.M. Elderidge
(1994) The use of stable carbon isotopes to study
microbial processes in estuaries. In Stable Isotopes
in Ecology and Environmental Science (K. Lajtha, and
R. Michener, Eds.). Boston: Blackwell Scientific
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