title: Biodegradation of Dimethyl Phthalate by Freshwater Unicellular Cyanobacteria.
abstract: The biodegradation characteristics of dimethyl phthalate (DMP) by three freshwater unicellular organisms were investigated in this study. The findings revealed that all the organisms were capable of metabolizing DMP; among them,Cyanothecesp. PCC7822 achieved the highest degradation efficiency. Lower concentration of DMP supported the growth of the Cyanobacteria; however, with the increase of DMP concentration growth of Cyanobacteria was inhibited remarkably. Phthalic acid (PA) was detected to be an intermediate degradation product of DMP and accumulated in the culture solution. The optimal initial pH value for the degradation was detected to be 9.0, which mitigated the decrease of pH resulting from the production of PA. The optimum temperature for DMP degradation of the three species of organisms is 30°C. After 72 hours' incubation, no more than 11.8% of the residual of DMP aggregated in Cyanobacteria cells while majority of DMP remained in the medium. Moreover, esterase was induced by DMP and the activity kept increasing during the degradation process. This suggested that esterase could assist in the degradation of DMP.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Bioenergy and Bioremediation, College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Bioenergy and Bioremediation, College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Lincong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Bioenergy and Bioremediation, College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Siping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Bioenergy and Bioremediation, College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Bioenergy and Bioremediation, College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Ecology, Shandong Normal University, 88 Wenhua Donglu, Jinan, Shandong 250014, China.
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Ecology, Shandong Normal University, 88 Wenhua Donglu, Jinan, Shandong 250014, China.
authors.forename: Shiguo
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2656-8628
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Bioenergy and Bioremediation, College of Resource and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7510-2675
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D005618:Fresh Water; D007700:Kinetics; D010795:Phthalic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D010795:Phthalic Acids; C024629:dimethyl phthalate; C032279:phthalic acid