Isolation and characterization of an Alcaligenes sp. strain DG-5 capable of degrading DDTs under aerobic conditions

Abstract

In this study, an Alcaligenes sp. strain DG-5 that can effectively degrade dichlorodiphenyltrichloro-ethanes (DDTs) under aerobic conditions was isolated from DDTs-contaminated sediment. Various factors that affect the biodegradation of DDTs by DG-5 were investigated. About 88 %, 65 % and 45 % of the total DDTs were consumed within 120 h when their initial concentrations were 0.5, 5 and 15 mg L⁻¹, respectively. However, almost no degradation was observed when their concentration was increased to 30 mg L⁻¹, but the addition of nutrients significantly improved the degradation, and 66 % and 90 % of the total DDTs were degraded at 336 h in the presence of 5 g L⁻¹ peptone and yeast extract, respectively. Moreover, the addition of 20 mM formate also enhanced the ability of DG-5 to transform DDTs, and its DDT transformation capacity (T_c) value was increased by 1.8 - 2.7 fold for the pure (p,p’-DDT or o,p’-DDT only) and mixed systems (p,p’-DDT, o,p’-DDT, p,p’-DDD and p,p’-DDE). Furthermore, it was found that competitive inhibition in the biodegradation by DDT compounds occurred in the mixed system.

Keywords:

• DDTs
• biodegradation
• aerobic degradation
• Alcaligenes sp

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program (2004AA649070) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of P. R. China.