The isolation of natural microorganisms degraders of chlorinated compounds

Abstract

Bacterial strains isolated from soils contaminated by organochlorine pesticides were screened. Bacterial strains capable of growing on mineral media with organochlorine pesticides - the gamma isomer of hexachlorocyclohexane and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane as the only carbon source were identified. The degradation processes of hexachlorocyclohexane by monocultures of isolated bacterial strains were studied. Four strains of them per-formed effective destruction of hexachlorocyclohexane when it was contained in the nutrient medium at a concentration of 100 micrograms/ml. It is shown that monocultures of four bacterial strains almost completely destroyed hexachlorocyclohexane within one month. Based on the study of taxonomic attributes of active bacterial strains, three of them are assigned to the species Bacillus subtilis, one to the species Micrococcus roseus.