IN-VITRO DEGRADATION OF DICYCLOPENTADIENE BY MICROBIAL CONSORTIA ISOLATED FROM HYDROCARBON-CONTAMINATED SOIL

Degradation of dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) to carbon dioxide and oxygenat ed intermediates was established in the laboratory. Screening of many inocula using BIOLOG(TM) MT plates showed that no single colony isolat e readily mineralized DCPD. Mixed cultures from a variety of environme ntal sources produced (CO2)-C-14 when incubated with [C-14]DCPD, but m ost of the DCPD was metabolized to oxygenated intermediates that could be extracted from the culture liquid and detected using gas chromatog raphy and mass spectroscopy. Stimulation of environmental inocula with nutrients and preexposure to DCPD before testing for degradation gave mineralization rates after 25 days of in vitro incubation that were t wice as fast as those previously reported.