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Microbial Transformation of 1,2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane (DBCP)

Inst. for Comparative and Environ. Toxicology and Dep. of Soil, Crop, and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853.

^* Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

A once widely used nematicide that is now banned, 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), persists in groundwaters and is a significant pollutant in some water supplies. A study was conducted to determine whether a means for the biodegradation of this persistent compound could be devised. DBCP was not converted to organic products, halide, or CO₂ in unamended samples of soil, subsoil material, or groundwaters in 60 d, and no microorganism could be isolated that was able to use the compound as a C source for growth. However, cell suspensions of Pseudomonas putida and of bacteria grown in solutions containing chlorinated fatty acids or 3-chloro-1-propanol cometabolized DBCP in the presence of O₂ with the formation of halide but not CO₂. Pseudomonas putida had the greatest activity. DBCP was also converted aerobically to organic products and CO₂ by soil suspensions incubated with methane. The compound was also converted anaerobically to organic products but not CO₂ in suspensions of soil, but no anaerobic transformation was observed in samples of groundwater or aquifer solids. We suggest that biological treatment may be used as a means to destroy this pollutant.