Microbial humic acid degradation

[Honorio Americo Campos]

			Dear bug-fans

   I am working on my Phd project, I plan to study fresh-water
microbiology on 
the Orinoco bassin, in Venezuela, South-America.  Some of these waters
have high
contents of dissolved humic acids (H.A.), polimers of highly
refractary organic 
material.  Otherwise, these are oligotrophic waters, poor in
nutrients.  One 
would tend to expect some kind of bacterial adaptation for taking
advantage of 
these H.A.  In a preliminary literature research I did not come across
anything 
related to the subject.  Would be anybody around working on these
subjects?  Any
comment or references are welcomed.

Miguel Villegas
hcampos at usb.ve