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Inability of bacteria to degrade low concentrations of toluene in water
Author(s) -
Roch François,
Alexander Martin
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620160707
Subject(s) - toluene , bacteria , chemistry , biodegradation , degradation (telecommunications) , environmental chemistry , chromatography , biology , organic chemistry , telecommunications , genetics , computer science
Microbial utilization of low concentrations of toluene in water was investigated. When bacteria that were not actively degrading toluene were incubated in solutions containing 2.1 to 11 μg of toluene/L, the concentrations remaining in solution after 8 d ranged from 0.69 to 0.99 μg/L. However, when the initial concentration was ≥31 μg/L, the concentration remaining was <0.2 μg/L. When bacteria actively degrading toluene were inoculated into solutions containing 0.9 μg of toluene/L, the concentration remaining after 8 d was 79 ng/L. We propose that the inability of some bacteria to maintain or attain high metabolic activity on a compound present at low concentrations may prevent its rapid degradation in natural environments.