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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3368-3375, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Biodegradation of Atrazine by Agrobacterium radiobacter J14a and Use of This Strain in Bioremediation of Contaminated Soil

J. K. Struthers,1,dagger K. Jayachandran,2,Dagger and T. B. Moorman3,*

Departments of Microbiology1 and Agronomy,2 Iowa State University, and National Soil Tilth Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,3 Ames, Iowa 50011

Received 9 March 1998/Accepted 1 July 1998

We examined the ability of a soil bacterium, Agrobacterium radiobacter J14a, to degrade the herbicide atrazine under a variety of cultural conditions, and we used this bacterium to increase the biodegradation of atrazine in soils from agricultural chemical distribution sites. J14a cells grown in nitrogen-free medium with citrate and sucrose as carbon sources mineralized 94% of 50 µg of [14C-U-ring]atrazine ml-1 in 72 h with a concurrent increase in the population size from 7.9 × 105 to 5.0 × 107 cells ml-1. Under these conditions cells mineralized the [ethyl-14C]atrazine and incorporated approximately 30% of the 14C into the J14a biomass. Cells grown in medium without additional carbon and nitrogen sources degraded atrazine, but the cell numbers did not increase. Metabolites produced by J14a during atrazine degradation include hydroxyatrazine, deethylatrazine, and deethyl-hydroxyatrazine. The addition of 105 J14a cells g-1 into soil with a low indigenous population of atrazine degraders treated with 50 and 200 µg of atrazine g-1 soil resulted in two to five times higher mineralization than in the noninoculated soil. Sucrose addition did not result in significantly faster mineralization rates or shorten degradation lag times. However, J14a introduction (105 cells g-1) into another soil with a larger indigenous atrazine-mineralizing population reduced the atrazine degradation lag times below those in noninoculated treatments but did not generally increase total atrazine mineralization.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: USDA-ARS, National Soil Tilth Laboratory, 2150 Pammel Dr., Ames, IA 50011-4420. Phone: (515) 294-2308. Fax: (515) 294-8125. E-mail: moorman{at}nstl.gov.

dagger Present address: Betz-Dearborn, Inc., Woodlands, TX 77380.

Dagger Present address: Department of Environmental Studies, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, FL 33199.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 1998, p. 3368-3375, Vol. 64, No. 9
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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