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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2000, p. 5110-5115, Vol. 66, No. 12
Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology,
University of Ghent, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Received 10 April 2000/Accepted 6 September 2000
Soil treated with linuron for more than 10 years showed high
biodegradation activity towards methoxy-methyl urea herbicides. Untreated control soil samples taken from the same location did not
express any linuron degradation activity, even after 40 days of
incubation. Hence, the occurrence in the field of a microbiota having
the capacity to degrade a specific herbicide was related to the
long-term treatment of the soil. The enrichment culture isolated from
treated soil showed specific degradation activity towards
methoxy-methyl urea herbicides, such as linuron and metobromuron, while
dimethyl urea herbicides, such as diuron, chlorotoluron, and
isoproturon, were not transformed. The putative metabolic intermediates
of linuron and metobromuron, the aniline derivatives 3,4-dichloroaniline and 4-bromoaniline, were also degraded. The temperature of incubation drastically affected degradation of the
aniline derivatives. Whereas linuron was transformed at 28 and 37°C,
3,4-dichloroaniline was transformed only at 28°C. Monitoring the
enrichment process by reverse transcription-PCR and denaturing gradient
gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed that a mixture of bacterial species
under adequate physiological conditions was required to completely
transform linuron. This research indicates that for biodegradation of
linuron, several years of adaptation have led to selection of a
bacterial consortium capable of completely transforming linuron.
Moreover, several of the putative species appear to be difficult to
culture since they were detectable by DGGE but were not culturable on
agar plates.
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Enrichment and Molecular Characterization of a Bacterial Culture
That Degrades Methoxy-Methyl Urea Herbicides and Their
Aniline Derivatives
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Present address: Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Washington, 201 More Hall, Box 352700, Seattle, WA
98195-2700. Phone: (206) 685-3464. Fax: (206) 685-9185. E-mail:
fantrous{at}hotmail.com.
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