Affiliation:
1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Anaerobic methyl
tert
-butyl ether (MTBE) degradation potential was investigated in samples from a range of sources. From these 22 experimental variations, only one source (from wastewater treatment plant samples) exhibited MTBE degradation. These microcosms were methanogenic and were subjected to DNA-based stable isotope probing (SIP) targeted to both bacteria and archaea to identify the putative MTBE degraders. For this purpose, DNA was extracted at two time points, subjected to ultracentrifugation, fractioning, and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP). In addition, bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were constructed. The SIP experiments indicated bacteria in the phyla
Firmicutes
(family
Ruminococcaceae
) and
Alphaproteobacteria
(genus
Sphingopyxis
) were the dominant MTBE degraders. Previous studies have suggested a role for
Firmicutes
in anaerobic MTBE degradation; however, the putative MTBE-degrading microorganism in the current study is a novel MTBE-degrading phylotype within this phylum. Two archaeal phylotypes (genera
Methanosarcina
and
Methanocorpusculum
) were also enriched in the heavy fractions, and these organisms may be responsible for minor amounts of MTBE degradation or for the uptake of metabolites released from the primary MTBE degraders. Currently, limited information exists on the microorganisms able to degrade MTBE under anaerobic conditions. This work represents the first application of DNA-based SIP to identify anaerobic MTBE-degrading microorganisms in laboratory microcosms and therefore provides a valuable set of data to definitively link identity with anaerobic MTBE degradation.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Ecology,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,Food Science,Biotechnology
Cited by
41 articles.
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