Description of toluene inhibition of methyl bromide biodegradation in seawater and isolation of a marine toluene oxidizer that degrades methyl bromide.

ABSTRACT: Methyl bromide (CH3Br) and methyl chloride (CH3Cl) are important precursors for destruction of stratospheric ozone, and oceanic uptake is an important component of the biogeochemical cycle of these methyl halides. In an effort to identify and characterize the organisms mediating halocarbon biodegradation, we surveyed the effect of potential cometabolic substrates on CH3Br biodegradation using a 13CH3Br incubation technique. Toluene (160 to 200 nM) clearly inhibited CH3Br and CH3Cl degradation in seawater samples from the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Oceans. Furthermore, a marine bacterium able to co-oxidize CH3Br while growing on toluene was isolated from subtropical Western Atlantic seawater. The bacterium, Oxy6, was also able to oxidize o-xylene and the xylene monooxygenas

SUBMITTER: Goodwin KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1169029 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature