title: Measuring growth of a phenanthrene-degrading bacterial inoculum in soil with a quantitative competitive polymerase chain reaction method.
abstract: We measured growth of a phenanthrene-degrading bacterium, Arthrobacter, strain RP17, in Forbes soil, amended with 500 µg g(-1) phenanthrene using a quantitative competitive polymerase chain reaction method. The inoculum, which was not indigenous to Forbes soil, grew from 5.55x10(5) colony forming units (cfu) g(-1) to 1.97x10(7) cfu g(-1) within 100 h after the cells were added to the soil. Maximum population density was reached before the highest degradation rate was observed 150 h after the cells were added to soil. Population density remained stable even after 56% of the phenanthrene had mineralized. This study is one of the few documented examples of growth by a non-indigenous bacterium in a non-sterile soil amended with a pollutant.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Group in Ecology and Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, One Shields Ave., University of California, 95616-8627, Davis, CA, USA
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.lastname: V Trinh S
authors.lastname: M Scow K