Abstract
Manufacture of nitroorganic explosives generates toxic wastes leading to contamination of soils and waters, especially groundwater. For that reason bacteria living in environments highly contaminated with 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and other nitroorganic compounds were investigated for their capacity for TNT degradation. One isolate, Raoultella terrigena strain HB, removed TNT at concentrations between 10 and 100 mg l−1 completely from culture supernatants under optimum aerobic conditions within several hours. Only low concentrations of nutrient supplements were needed for the cometabolic transformation process. Radioactivity measurements with ring-labelled 14C–TNT detected about 10–20% of the initial radioactivity in the culture supernatant and the residual 80–90% as water-insoluble organic compounds in the cellular pellet. HPLC analysis identified aminodinitrotoluenes (2-ADNT, 4-ADNT) and diaminonitrotoluenes (2,4-DANT) as the metabolites which remained soluble in the culture medium and azoxy-dimers as the main products in the cell extracts. Hence, the new isolate could be useful for the removal of TNT from contaminated waters.
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Abbreviations
- ADNT:
-
aminodinitrotoluene
- DANT:
-
diaminonitrotoluene
- TN-4,4′-azo:
-
2,2′,6,6′-tetranitro-4,4′-azotoluene
- TN-2,2′-azoxy:
-
4,4′,6,6′-tetranitro-2,2′-azoxytoluene
- TN-4,4′-azoxy:
-
2,2′,6,6′-tetranitro-4,4′-azoxytoluene
- TNT:
-
2,4,6-trinitrotoluene
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Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate a financial support by the “Zentrum für Umweltforschung der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität”. We also thank Martina Schlander for excellent technical assistance and Dr. D. Hennecke, Fraunhofer-Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Oekologie, for the combustion measurements.
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Claus, H., Bausinger, T., Lehmler, I. et al. Transformation of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) by Raoultella terrigena . Biodegradation 18, 27–35 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-005-9033-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-005-9033-7