Isolation and characterization of an Achromobacter xylosoxidans strain B3 and other bacteria capable to degrade the synthetic chelating agent iminodisuccinate

Three bacterial strains were isolated, which used the synthetic chelating a gent iminodisuccinate (IDS) as sole carbon source for growth in mineral sal ts media (MSM). Taxonomic analysis and 16S rDNA sequence analysis identifie d one of these isolates (B3), which was isolated from sewage sludge, as a s train of Achromobacter xylosoxidans subsp. xylosoxidans. It exhibited a dou bling time of approximately 3 h in liquid MSM supplemented with IDS and gre w even in the presence of 1.0% (w/v) IDS. Since photometric and high perfor mance liquid chromatography analysis showed that IDS, which came onto the m arket only recently as an alternative for ethylenediaminetetraacetate, was completely degraded by axenic cultures of bacteria; it will probably be rea dily degraded in the environment. (C) 2000 Federation of European Microbiol ogical Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.