Isolation and Characterization of Bacterial Strains from Explosive-Contaminated Soil

Abstract

Since World War II, nitro compound-derived explosives such as TNT, RDX, and HMX have been used for various purposes and have caused the environmental problem in groundwater and soil. Among them, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) is one of the most widely used explosives in the field of military and construction industries and leads to the DNA damage and mutations in animals, plants and microorganisms. However, it is recalcitrant due to its physical and chemical properties, so the complete removal of TNT is considered hard. Recently, to solve the environmental problem caused by TNT, bioremediation using microorganisms has been issued as one of the methods to remove the explosives, especially TNT. For this purpose, we isolated and identified the bacterial strains which can grow in TNT and degrade it to reduce its toxicity, from shooting range of Korean army located on front and rear of Korea. The strain having high similarity with Pseudomonas putida, which occupies dominant number after isolation and selection, is chosen for this study and shows utilization of TNT as sole nitrogen source in TNT-containing medium and release of nitrite and degradation of TNT as detoxification of TNT. We expect the strain can be applied for purification and management of TNT-contaminated soil.