J. Krooneman et al., COMPETITION FOR OXYGEN AND 3-CHLOROBENZOATE BETWEEN 2 AEROBIC-BACTERIA USING DIFFERENT DEGRADATION PATHWAYS, FEMS microbiology, ecology, 26(3), 1998, pp. 171-179
In nature a significant part of the microbial activity is concentrated
at or near oxic/anoxic interfaces, where oxygen concentrations are of
ten low. Bacteria possessing different kinetic characteristics for oxy
gen and employing distinct metabolic pathways for the degradation of (
halo)aromatic substrates for which oxygen is needed as co-substrate ma
y have to compete with each other in such environments. In this study
the competitiveness of Pseudomonas sp. strain A3 relative to Alcaligen
es sp. strain L6 was tested in batch and in continuous cultures. While
both of these strains are able to metabolise 3-chlorobenzoate (3CBA),
the former was isolated under air saturating conditions and employs t
he catechol pathway, whereas the latter was isolated under reduced par
tial pressures of oxygen and was capable of metabolising 3CBA via the
gentisate pathway. Competition experiments in batch culture resulted i
n pure cultures of Pseudomonas sp. strain A3 under air saturating cond
itions. However, if reduced partial pressures of oxygen (2%) were used
, Alcaligenes sp. strain L6 remained present in substantial numbers af
ter three transfers. Continuous culture experiments demonstrated that
Alcaligenes sp. strain L6 was able to outcompete Pseudomonas sp. strai
n A3 under oxygen- as well as under carbon-limiting conditions as long
as the dilution rate remained below 0.136 h(-1) (low oxygen) and belo
w 0.178 h(-1) (high oxygen). These results support the hypothesis that
organisms metabolising chlorobenzoate via the gentisate pathway may p
lay a significant role in natural ecosystems where xenobiotic compound
s and naturally produced aromatics occur at very low concentrations an
d in combination with limiting oxygen tensions. (C) 1998 Federation of
European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V
. All rights reserved.