biostudies-literatureHara TMEXT | Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceKyoto University | Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto Universitye0192621https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC8694117biostudies-literatureUnknown9(3)Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are recalcitrant organohalide pollutants, consisting of 209 congeners. PCB cleanup in natural landscapes is expected to be achieved by the metabolic activity of microorganisms, but aerobic PCB-degrading bacteria that inhabit sites polluted by PCBs cannot degrade all PCB congeners due to the specificity of their enzymes. In this study, we investigated the degradability of PCBs when a genetically modified PCB-degrading bacterium was compounded with wild-type PCB-degrading bacteria. We used two bacterial strains, Comamonas testosteroni YAZ2 isolated from a PCB-uncontaminated natural landscape and Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) transformed with a biphenyl dioxygenase (BphA) gene from a well-known PCB degrader, Burkholderia xenovorans LB400. The enzymatic specificitMicrobiology spectrumAugmentation of an Engineered Bacterial Strain Potentially Improves the Cleanup of PCB Water Pollution.PMC8694117JP26550066ZE28C-11ZE29A-10JP18K19881Nakata EHara TMorii TTakatsuka YfalseAugmentation of an Engineered Bacterial Strain Potentially Improves the Cleanup of PCB Water Pollution.Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are recalcitrant organohalide pollutants, consisting of 209 congeners. PCB cleanup in natural landscapes is expected to be achieved by the metabolic activity of microorganisms, but aerobic PCB-degrading bacteria that inhabit sites polluted by PCBs cannot degrade all PCB congeners due to the specificity of their enzymes. In this study, we investigated the degradability of PCBs when a genetically modified PCB-degrading bacterium was compounded with wild-type PCB-degrading bacteria. We used two bacterial strains, Comamonas testosteroni YAZ2 isolated from a PCB-uncontaminated natural landscape and Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) transformed with a biphenyl dioxygenase (BphA) gene from a well-known PCB degrader, Burkholderia xenovorans LB400. The enzymatic specificit2021-01-01T00:00:00Z2021 Dec2025-05-18T12:04:14.554Z2025-04-05T20:39:58.076ZS-EPMC86941173493718610.1128/spectrum.01926-21