Biomaterial Database

Anaerobic biodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls by bacteria from Hudson River sediments. 1988

M Chen, and C S Hong, and B Bush, and G Y Rhee

Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research, New York State Department of Health, Albany 12201.

Anaerobic biodegradation of monochlorobiphenyls; a tetrachlorobiphenyl; Aroclor 1221, a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) mixture; and sediment PCBs was investigated by using mixed bacterial populations from Hudson River sediments obtained by PCB enrichment. When the bacteria were incubated with Aroclor 1221, the disappearance of congeners was in general inversely related to GC retention time and thus indirectly to the octanol/water partition coefficient. When incubated with 14C-labeled monochlorobiphenyls, 14CO2 was detected, but methane was not. Radioactivity was also found in the cell material and the aqueous fraction. 2,4,2',4'-Tetrachlorobiphenyl produced little evidence of biodegradation or reductive dechlorination. Inoculation of anaerobic sediments from the Hudson River with the mixed population produced a marked decrease in sediment PCBs, whereas uninoculated sediments were observed to have little change. This decrease was also related to the partition coefficient.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009518	New York	State bounded on the north by Lake Ontario and Canada, on the east by Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and on the west by Pennsylvania, Lake Erie, and Canada.
D011078	Polychlorinated Biphenyls	Industrial products consisting of a mixture of chlorinated biphenyl congeners and isomers. These compounds are highly lipophilic and tend to accumulate in fat stores of animals. Many of these compounds are considered toxic and potential environmental pollutants.	PCBs,Polychlorinated Biphenyl,Polychlorobiphenyl Compounds,Biphenyl, Polychlorinated,Biphenyls, Polychlorinated,Compounds, Polychlorobiphenyl
D005618	Fresh Water	Water containing no significant amounts of salts, such as water from RIVERS and LAKES.	Freshwater,Fresh Waters,Freshwaters,Water, Fresh,Waters, Fresh
D000693	Anaerobiosis	The complete absence, or (loosely) the paucity, of gaseous or dissolved elemental oxygen in a given place or environment. (From Singleton & Sainsbury, Dictionary of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, 2d ed)	Anaerobic Metabolism,Anaerobic Metabolisms,Anaerobioses,Metabolism, Anaerobic,Metabolisms, Anaerobic
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D001673	Biodegradation, Environmental	Elimination of ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS; PESTICIDES and other waste using living organisms, usually involving intervention of environmental or sanitation engineers.	Bioremediation,Phytoremediation,Natural Attenuation, Pollution,Environmental Biodegradation,Pollution Natural Attenuation
D014871	Water Microbiology	The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in water. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms.	Microbiology, Water