Heidrun Scholz-Muramatsu

Isolation and characterization of Dehalospirillum multivorans gen. nov., sp. nov., a tetrachloroethene-utilizing, strictly anaerobic bacterium

A strictly anaerobic bacterium dechlorinating tetrachloroethene (perchloroethylene, PCE) via trichloroethene (TCE) to cis-1,2-dichloroethene (DCE) was isolated from activated sludge with pyruvate plus PCE as energy substrates. The organism, called Dehalospirillum multivorans, is a gram-negative spirillum that does not form spores. The G+C content of the DNA was 41.5 mol%. According to 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, D. multivorans represents a new genus and a new species belonging to the epsilon subdivision of Proteobacteria. Quinones, cytochromes b and c, and corrinoids were extracted from the cells. D. multivorans grew in defined medium with PCE and H2 as sole energy sources and acetate as carbon source; the growth yield under these conditions was 1.4g of cell protein per mol chloride released. Alternatively to PCE, fumarate and nitrate could serve as electron acceptors; sulfate could not replace fumarate, nitrate, or PCE in this respect. In addition to H2, the organism utilized a variety of electron donors for dechlorination (pyruvate, lactate, ethanol, formate, glycerol). Upon growth on pyruvate plus PCE, the main fermentation products formed were acetatc, lactate, DCE, and H2. At optimal pH (7.3–7.6) and temperature (30°C), and in the presence of pyruvate (20mM) and PCE (160μM), a dechlorination rate of about 50 nmol min-1 (mg cell protein)-1 and a doubling time of about 2.5h were obtained with growing cultures. The ability to reduce PCE to DCE appears to be constitutive under the experimental conditions applied since cultures growing in the absence of PCE for several generations immediately started dechlorination when transferred to a medium containing PCE. The organism may be useful for bioremediation of environments polluted with tetrachloroethene.

Tetrachloroethene metabolism of Dehalospirillum multivorans

Dehalospirillum multivorans is a strictly anaerobic bacterium that is able to dechlorinate tetrachloroethene (perchloroethylene; PCE) via trichloroethene (TCE) to cis-1,2-dichloroethene (DCE) as part of its energy metabolism. The present communication describes some features of the dechlorination reaction in growing cultures, cell suspensions, and cell extracts of D. multivorans. Cell suspensions catalyzed the reductive dechlorination of PCE with pyruvate as electron donor at specific rates of up to 150 nmol (chloride released) min-1 (mg cell protein)-1 (300 μM PCE initially, pH 7.5, 25°C). The rate of dechlorination depended on the PCE concentration; concentrations higher than 300 μM inhibited dehalogenation. The temperature optimum was between 25 and 30°C; the pH optimum at about 7.5. Dehalogenation was sensitive to potential alternative electron acceptors such as fumarate or sulfur; nitrate or sulfate had no significant effect on PCE reduction. Propyl iodide (50 μM) almost completely inhibited the dehalogenation of PCE in cell suspensions. Cell extracts mediated the dehalogenation of PCE and of TCE with reduced methyl viologen as the electron donor at specific rates of up to 0.5 μmol (chloride released) min-1 (mg protein).-1 An abiotic reductive dehalogenation could be excluded since cell extracts heated for 10 min at 95°C were inactive. The PCE dehalogenase was recovered in the soluble cell fraction after ultracentrifugation. The enzyme was not inactivated by oxygen.

Spatial heterogeneity of dechlorinating bacteria and limiting factors for in situ trichloroethene dechlorination revealed by analyses of sediment cores from a polluted field site

Microbiological analyses of sediment samples were conducted to explore potentials and limitations for bioremediation of field sites polluted with chlorinated ethenes. Intact sediment cores, collected by direct push probing from a 35-ha contaminated area, were analyzed in horizontal layers. Cultivation-independent PCR revealed Dehalococcoides to be the most abundant 16S rRNA gene phylotype with a suspected potential for reductive dechlorination of the major contaminant trichloroethene (TCE). In declining abundances, Desulfitobacterium, Desulfuromonas and Dehalobacter were also detected. In TCE-amended sediment slurry incubations, 66% of 121 sediment samples were dechlorinating, among them one-third completely and the rest incompletely (end product cis-1,2-dichloroethene; cDCE). Both PCR and slurry analyses revealed highly heterogeneous horizontal and vertical distributions of the dechlorination potentials in the sediments. Complete reductive TCE dechlorination correlated with the presence of Dehalococcoides, accompanied by Acetobacterium and a relative of Trichococcus pasteurii. Sediment incubations under close to in situ conditions showed that a low TCE dechlorination activity could be stimulated by 7 mg L(-1) dissolved carbon for cDCE formation and by an additional 36 mg carbon (lactate) L(-1) for further dechlorination. The study demonstrates that the highly heterogeneous distribution of TCE degraders and their specific requirements for carbon and electrons are key issues for TCE degradation in contaminated sites.