title: Biodegradation of monohalogenated alkanes by soil NH(3)-oxidizing bacteria.
abstract: Although cooxidative biodegradation of monohalogenated hydrocarbons has been well studied in the model NH(3)-oxidizing bacterium, Nitrosomonas europaea, virtually no information exists about cooxidation of these compounds by native populations of NH(3)-oxidizing bacteria. To address this subject, nitrifying activity was stimulated to 125-400 nmol NO(3)(-) produced g(-1) soil h(-1) by first incubating a Ca(OH)(2)-amended, silt loam soil (pH 7.0+/-0.2) at field capacity (270 g H(2)O kg(-1) soil) with 10 micro mol NH(4)(+) g(-1) soil for 14 days, followed by another 10 days of incubation in a shaken slurry (2:1 water:soil, v/w) with periodic pH adjustment and maintenance of 10 mM NH(4)(+). These slurries actively degraded both methyl bromide (MeBr) and ethyl chloride (EtCl) at maximum rates of 20-30 nmol ml(-1) h(-1) that could be sustained for approximately 12 h. Although the MeBr degradation rates were linear for the first 10-12 h of incubation, they could not be sustained regardless of NH(4)(+) level and declined to zero over 20 h of incubation. The transformation capacity of the slurry enrichments (~1 micro mol MeBr ml(-1) soil slurry) was similar to the value measured previously in cell suspensions of N. europaea with similar NH(3)-oxidizing activity. Several MeBr-degrading characteristics of the nitrifying enrichments were found to be similar to those documented in the literature for MeBr-degrading methanotrophs and facultatively methylotrophic bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-3804, USA.
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Duddleston
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Arp
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Bottomley
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D000641:Ammonia / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D003470:Culture Media; D005018:Ethyl Chloride / Q000378:metabolism; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated / Q000378:metabolism; D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated / Q000378:metabolism*; D009606:Nitrosomonas / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D003470:Culture Media; D006842:Hydrocarbons, Brominated; D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated; D012987:Soil; D005018:Ethyl Chloride; D000641:Ammonia; C005218:methyl bromide