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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2003, p. 938-944, Vol. 69, No. 2
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.2.938-944.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Desulfonation and Degradation of the Disulfodiphenylethercarboxylates from Linear Alkyldiphenyletherdisulfonate Surfactants

David Schleheck,¹ Melanie Lechner,¹ René Schönenberger,² Marc J.-F. Suter,² and Alasdair M. Cook^1*

Department of Biology, The University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany,¹ Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland²

Received 5 September 2002/ Accepted 6 November 2002

Earlier work showed that the biodegradation of a commercial linear monoalkyldiphenyletherdisulfonate surfactant as a carbon source for microbial growth leads to the quantitative formation of corresponding disulfodiphenylether carboxylates (DSDPECs), which were not degraded. -Proteobacterium strain DS-1 (DSM 13023) catalyzes these reactions. These DSDPECs have now been characterized by high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled via an electrospray interface to a mass spectrometer. DSDPECs were a complex mixture of compounds which indicated catabolism via -oxygenation and ß-oxidation. DSDPECs were subject to quantitative desulfonation in bacterial cultures in which they served as sole sulfur sources for bacterial growth. On average, one sulfonate group per DSDPEC species was removed, and the organism responsible for this desulfonation was isolated and identified as Rhodococcus opacus ISO-5. The products were largely monosulfodiphenylether carboxylate-phenols (MSDPEC-phenols). MSDPEC-phenols were subject to extensive dissimilation by bacteria from activated sludge.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, The University of Konstanz, Universitätsstr. 10, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany. Phone: (49) 7531 88 4247. Fax: (49) 7531 88 2966. E-mail: alasdair.cook{at}uni-konstanz.de.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2003, p. 938-944, Vol. 69, No. 2
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.2.938-944.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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