title: Degradation of multiwall carbon nanotubes by bacteria.
abstract: Understanding the environmental transformation of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is important to their life cycle assessment and potential environmental impacts. We report that a bacterial community is capable of degrading (14)C-labeled MWCNTs into (14)CO2 in the presence of an external carbon source via co-metabolism. Multiple intermediate products were detected, and genotypic characterization revealed three possible microbial degraders: Burkholderia kururiensis, Delftia acidovorans, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. This result suggests that microbe/MWCNTs interaction may impact the long-term fate of MWCNTs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223, United States.
authors.forename: Liwen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Elijah J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Mussie Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Habteselassie
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Qingguo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Aerobic biotransformation; Carbon nanotubes; Microbial degradation; Nanotoxicology