AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sørensen, S. R.
Right arrow Articles by Aamand, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sørensen, S. R.
Right arrow Articles by Aamand, J.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Sørensen, S. R.
Right arrow Articles by Aamand, J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2001, p. 5403-5409, Vol. 67, No. 12
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.12.5403-5409.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Isolation from Agricultural Soil and Characterization of a Sphingomonas sp. Able To Mineralize the Phenylurea Herbicide Isoproturon

Sebastian R. Sørensen,1 Zeev Ronen,2 and Jens Aamand1,*

Department of Geochemistry, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark,1 and Department of Environmental Hydrology and Microbiology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Sede-Boker, Israel2

Received 11 June 2001/Accepted 10 September 2001

A soil bacterium (designated strain SRS2) able to metabolize the phenylurea herbicide isoproturon, 3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (IPU), was isolated from a previously IPU-treated agricultural soil. Based on a partial analysis of the 16S rRNA gene and the cellular fatty acids, the strain was identified as a Sphingomonas sp. within the alpha -subdivision of the proteobacteria. Strain SRS2 was able to mineralize IPU when provided as a source of carbon, nitrogen, and energy. Supplementing the medium with a mixture of amino acids considerably enhanced IPU mineralization. Mineralization of IPU was accompanied by transient accumulation of the metabolites 3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-1-methylurea, 3-(4-isopropylphenyl)-urea, and 4-isopropyl-aniline identified by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis, thus indicating a metabolic pathway initiated by two successive N-demethylations, followed by cleavage of the urea side chain and finally by mineralization of the phenyl structure. Strain SRS2 also transformed the dimethylurea-substituted herbicides diuron and chlorotoluron, giving rise to as-yet-unidentified products. In addition, no degradation of the methoxy-methylurea-substituted herbicide linuron was observed. This report is the first characterization of a pure bacterial culture able to mineralize IPU.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Geochemistry, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Thoravej 8, DK-2400 Copenhagen, Denmark. Phone: 45-3814-2326. Fax: 45-3814-2050. E-mail: jeaa{at}geus.dk.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2001, p. 5403-5409, Vol. 67, No. 12
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.12.5403-5409.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2001 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.