Isolation and Characterization of Aerobic Trichloroethylene Cometabolizing Bacterium

Abstract

Several microorganisms which degrade phenol and trichloroethylene (TCE) were isolated from the activated sludge of a wastewater treatment plant. Among them, one isolate EL-04J showed the highest degradability and was identified as a Pseudomonas species according to morphological, cultural and biochemical properties. The phenol-induced cells of Pseudomonas EL-04J, which were preincubated in the mineral salts medium containing phenol as a sole carbon source, degraded 90% of 25μM TCE within 20 h. This strain could also utilize some of methylated phenol derivatives (o-cresol, m-cresol and p-cresol) as the sole source of carbon and energy. Cresol-induced cells of Pseudomonas EL-04J also cometabolized TCE.