The effect of terpenes on the biodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls by Pseudomonas stutzeri

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) 2001-09, Vol.44 (7), p.1547-1555
• Main Authors: Tandlich, Roman, Brežná, Barbara, Dercová, Katarı́na
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic - chemistry; Applied sciences; Biodegradation of pollutants; Biodegradation, Environmental; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; carvone; Cyclohexenes; Decontamination. Miscellaneous; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environment and pollution; Environmental Pollutants - metabolism; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glucose - metabolism; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Limonene; Monoterpenes; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - metabolism; Pseudomonas - physiology; Pseudomonas stutzeri; Soil and sediments pollution; Soil Pollutants - metabolism; Terpenes - chemistry
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/S0045-6535(00)00523-3

The effect of two terpenes, carvone and limonene, on the biodegradation of DELOR 103, a commercial mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), by Pseudomonas stutzeri, an isolate from long-term PCB-contaminated soil, was studied in detail. The addition of both carvone and limonene as potential inducers of the dioxygenase metabolic pathway exerted an enhancing effect on PCB biodegradation when glycerol and xylose were used as carbon sources, whereas no such effect could be determined with biphenyl and glucose as substrates. Promising biodegradation values were determined with xylose as carbon source and carvone as terpene inducer. In this system, 30–70% of the congeners were degraded in the presence of 10 mg l −1 and 20 mg l −1 carvone, respectively, irrespective of the used concentration, whereas only 7–37% of individual PCB congeners were eliminated from the system without terpene addition.