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Appl Environ Microbiol, February 1998, p. 496-503, Vol. 64, No. 2
Fachgebiet Technische Biochemie,
Received 26 June 1997/Accepted 4 November 1997
A bacterial mixed culture reductively dechlorinating
trichlorobenzenes was established in a defined, synthetic mineral
medium without any complex additions and with pyruvate as the carbon and energy source. The culture was maintained over 39 consecutive transfers of small inocula into fresh media, enriching the
dechlorinating activity. In situ probing with fluorescence-labeled
rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes revealed that two major
subpopulations within the microbial consortium were phylogenetically
affiliated with a sublineage within the Desulfovibrionaceae
and the gamma subclass of Proteobacteria. The bacterial
consortium grew by fermentation of pyruvate, forming acetate,
propionate, CO2, formate, and hydrogen. Acetate and
propionate supported neither the reduction of trichlorobenzenes nor the
reduction of sulfate when sulfate was present. Hydrogen and formate
were used for sulfate reduction to sulfide. Sulfate strongly inhibited
the reductive dechlorination of trichlorobenzenes. However, when
sulfate was depleted in the medium due to sulfate reduction,
dechlorination of trichlorobenzenes started. Similar results were
obtained when sulfite was present in the cultures. Molybdate at a
concentration of 1 mM strongly inhibited the dechlorination of
trichlorobenzenes. Cultures supplied with molybdate plus sulfate did
not reduce sulfate, but dechlorination of trichlorobenzenes occurred.
Supplementation of electron-depleted cultures with various electron
sources demonstrated that formate was used as a direct electron donor
for reductive dechlorination, whereas hydrogen was not.
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Physiological Characterization of a Bacterial
Consortium Reductively Dechlorinating 1,2,3- and
1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: FG Technische
Biochemie, Sekr. GG1, TU Berlin, Seestr. 13, D-13353 Berlin, Germany. Phone: 49 30 31473119. Fax: 49 30 31473461. E-mail:
adri1532{at}mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de.
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