Benzene Degradation by a Variovorax Species within a Coal Tar-Contaminated Groundwater Microbial Community.

ABSTRACT: Investigations of environmental microbial communities are crucial for the discovery of populations capable of degrading hazardous compounds and may lead to improved bioremediation strategies. The goal of this study was to identify microorganisms responsible for aerobic benzene degradation in coal tar-contaminated groundwater. Benzene degradation was monitored in laboratory incubations of well waters using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Stable isotope probing (SIP) experiments using [¹³C]benzene enabled us to obtain ¹³C-labled community DNA. From this, 16S rRNA clone libraries identified Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria as the active benzene-metabolizing microbial populations. Subsequent cultivation experiments yielded nine bacterial isolates t

SUBMITTER: Posman KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5288836 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature