Anaerobic metabolism of nitroaromatic compounds by sulfate-reducing and methanogenic bacteria

Conference · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10158441

Boopathy, R ^[1]; Kulpa, C F ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
2. Notre Dame Univ., IN (United States). Dept. of Biological Sciences

Ecological observations suggest that sulfate-reducing and methanogenic bacteria might metabolize nitroaromatic compounds under anaerobic conditions if appropriate electron donors and electron acceptors are present in the environment, but this ability had not been demonstrated until recently. Most studies on the microbial metabolism of nitroaromatic compounds used aerobic microorganisms. In most cases no mineralization of nitroaromatics occurs, and only superficial modifications of the structures are reported. However, under anaerobic sulfate-reducing conditions, the nitroaromatic compounds reportedly undergo a series of reductions with the formation of amino compounds. For example, trinitrotoluene under sulfate-reducing conditions is reduced to triaminotoluene by the enzyme nitrite reductase, which is commonly found in many Desulfovibrio spp. The removal of ammonia from triaminotoluene is achieved by reductive deamination catalyzed by the enzyme reductive deaminase, with the production of ammonia and toluene. Some sulfate reducers can metabolize toluene to CO{sub 2}. Similar metabolic processes could be applied to other nitroaromatic compounds like nitrobenzene, nitrobenzoic acids, nitrophenols, and aniline. Many methanogenic bacteria can reduce nitroaromatic compounds to amino compounds. In this paper we review the anaerobic metabolic processes of nitroaromatic compounds under sulfate-reducing And methanogenic conditions.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 10158441
• Report Number(s): ANL/ER/CP-82983; CONF-9405165-1; ON: DE94013317
• Resource Relation: Conference: Symposium on the biodegradation of nitroaromatic compounds,Las Vegas, NV (United States),22-23 May 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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