Characterization of Selected Bacteria and Enzymes Involved in the Sequential Anaerobic Degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenol.
Abstract
We elucidated the pathway for the anaerobic degradation of chlorophenols under methanogenic conditions and studied the microbial interactions of the community being directly or indirectly involved in this process. At least 6 different bacteria, --constituting a sequential pathway--, are required. We studied the influence of various environmental factors on the degradation rates in sediment samples and directly in the environment. During the grant period, we isolated two of the main members of this pathway: (1) Desulfitobacterium dehalogenans gen. nov., sp. nov., which catalyzes specifically the removal of ortho substituted phenolic chlorines. An extensive substrate specificity and structure-function analysis, revealed that especially the para position of the halophenols can be substituted with a great variety of groups including carboxylic-, nitro-, amino-, methyl-, hydroxyl-, halogen-, and aryl-substituents leading to a wide variety of different compound classes. We started on the purification of the dehalogenase. (2) Clostridium hydroxybenzoicum sp. nov., which catalyzes the important step of forming hydroxybenzoate and thus linking in the degradation chain the and the mineralization of the phenolic compounds. The organism harbors two specifically induced reversible which we purified and characterized. Most of the work has been published in various international journals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA322559
Entities
People
- Juergen Wiegel
Organizations
- University of Georgia