NITROAROMATIC COMPOUNDS SERVE AS NITROGEN-SOURCE FOR DESULFOVIBRIO SP(B-STRAIN)

A sulfate-reducing bacterium, Desulfovibrio sp. (B strain), isolated f rom a continuous anaerobic digester, used various nitroaromatic compou nds such as 2,4-dinitrophenol, 2,4-dinitrotoluene, and 2,6-dinitrotolu ene as sole nitrogen sources for growth and also used these compounds as electron acceptors in the absence of sulfate in the culture medium. More than 60% of the nitroaromatics were transformed within 6 days of incubation. The organism also used aniline as sole nitrogen source, b ut not as an electron acceptor. Desulfovibrio sp. (B strain) did not u se nitroaromatics as sole source of carbon and energy. The nitro group s in the aromatic ring were reduced and reductively deaminated to ammo nia, which was used as nitrogen source, leaving the aromatic ring inta ct. Even though this organism did not degrade the nitroaromatics compl etely, it may be useful in degrading nitroaromatics in contaminated so il and water containing other aromatic degraders in a syntrophic cultu re system under anaerobic conditions.