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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 1999, p. 999-1004, Vol. 65, No. 3
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Anaerobic Oxidation of o-Xylene, m-Xylene, and Homologous Alkylbenzenes by New Types of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria

Gerda Harms, Karsten Zengler, Ralf Rabus,dagger Frank Aeckersberg,Dagger Dror Minz,§ Ramon Rosselló-Mora, and Friedrich Widdel*

Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie, D-28359 Bremen, Germany

Received 20 July 1998/Accepted 16 October 1998

Various alkylbenzenes were depleted during growth of an anaerobic, sulfate-reducing enrichment culture with crude oil as the only source of organic substrates. From this culture, two new types of mesophilic, rod-shaped sulfate-reducing bacteria, strains oXyS1 and mXyS1, were isolated with o-xylene and m-xylene, respectively, as organic substrates. Sequence analyses of 16S rRNA genes revealed that the isolates affiliated with known completely oxidizing sulfate-reducing bacteria of the delta  subclass of the class Proteobacteria. Strain oXyS1 showed the highest similarities to Desulfobacterium cetonicum and Desulfosarcina variabilis (similarity values, 98.4 and 98.7%, respectively). Strain mXyS1 was less closely related to known species, the closest relative being Desulfococcus multivorans (similarity value, 86.9%). Complete mineralization of o-xylene and m-xylene was demonstrated in quantitative growth experiments. Strain oXyS1 was able to utilize toluene, o-ethyltoluene, benzoate, and o-methylbenzoate in addition to o-xylene. Strain mXyS1 oxidized toluene, m-ethyltoluene, m-isoproyltoluene, benzoate, and m-methylbenzoate in addition to m-xylene. Strain oXyS1 did not utilize m-alkyltoluenes, whereas strain mXyS1 did not utilize o-alkyltoluenes. Like the enrichment culture, both isolates grew anaerobically on crude oil with concomitant reduction of sulfate to sulfide.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Max-Planck-Institut für Marine Mikrobiologie, Celsiusstr. 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany. Phone: 49-421-2028-702. Fax: 49-421-2028-790. E-mail: fwiddel{at}mpi-bremen.de.

dagger Present address: Department of Biology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116.

Dagger Present address: Kewalo Marine Laboratory, Honolulu, HI 96813.

§ Present address: The Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 1999, p. 999-1004, Vol. 65, No. 3
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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