RAPID SCREENING FOR BACTERIA CAPABLE OF DEGRADING TOXIC ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS

Routine procedures for isolating and characterizing microorganisms cap able of degrading toxic chemicals are time consuming and labor intensi ve. The objective of this paper is to describe a new method for screen ing aerobic bacterial isolates and consortia that will rapidly determi ne metabolic capacity for various toxic chemicals and access the use o f various substrates as inducers in the degradation process. This meth od uses the Biolog(R) multiwell plate technology - a four-step method that includes inoculation followed by incubation of a uniform suspensi on of cells into a microtiter plate - to test more than 40 bacterial i solates and mixtures against 30 target toxic chemicals. Several bacter ia and consortia have been shown to degrade toxic chemicals at concent rations of 10-500 ppm. These results indicate that Biolog(R) GN and MT plates are useful tools for screening bacterial isolates and consorti a for their ability to survive metabolize, and potentially degrade sel ected organic chemicals.