title: Fate of the nitrilotriacetic acid-Fe(III) complex during photodegradation and biodegradation by Rhodococcus rhodochrous.
abstract: Aminopolycarboxylic acids are ubiquitous in natural waters and wastewaters. They have the ability to form very stable water-soluble complexes with many metallic di- or trivalent ions. The iron complex nitrilotriacetic acid-Fe(III) (FeNTA) has been previously shown to increase drastically the rate of photo- and biodegradation of 2-aminobenzothiazole, an organic pollutant, by Rhodococcus rhodochrous. For this paper, the fate of FeNTA was investigated during these degradation processes. First, it was shown, using in situ (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance, that the complex FeNTA was biodegraded by Rhodococcus rhodochrous cells, but the ligand (NTA) alone was not. This result indicates that FeNTA was transported and biotransformed inside the cell. The same products, including iminodiacetic acid, glycine, and formate, were obtained during the photo- and biodegradation processes of FeNTA, likely because they both involve oxidoreduction mechanisms. When the results of the different experiments are compared, the soluble iron, measured by spectrophotometry, was decreasing when microbial cells were present. About 20% of the initial iron was found inside the cells. These results allowed us to propose detailed mechanistic schemes for FeNTA degradation by solar light and by R. rhodochrous.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Synthèse Et Etude de Systèmes à Intérêt Biologique, UMR 6504 CNRS-Université Blaise Pascal, 63177 Aubière Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bunescu
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Besse-Hoggan
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sancelme
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mailhot
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Delort