Kinetics of bacterial growth on chlorinated aliphatic compounds

With the pure bacterial cultures Ancylobacter aquaticus AD20 and AD25, Xanthobacter autotrophicus GJ10, and Pseudomonas sp. strain AD1, Monod kinetics was observed during growth in chemostat cultures on 1,2-dichloroethane (AD20, AD25, and GJ10), 2-chloroethanol (AD20 and GJ10), and 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol (AD1). Both the Michaelis-Menten constants (K(m)) of the first catabolic (dehalogenating) enzyme and the Monod half-saturation constants (K(s)) followed the order 2-chloroethanol, 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol, epichlorohydrin, and 1,2-dichloroethane. The K(s) values of strains GJ10, AD20, and AD25 for 1,2-dichloroethane were 260, 222, and 24 muM, respectively. The low K(s) value of strain AD25 was correlated with a higher haloalkane dehalogenase content of this bacterium. The growth rates of strains AD20 and GJ10 in continuous cultures on 1,2-dichloroethane were higher than the rates predicted from the kinetics of the haloalkane dehalogenase and the concentration of the enzyme in the cells. The results indicate that the efficiency of chlorinated compound removal is indeed influenced by the kinetic properties and cellular content of the first catabolic enzyme. The cell envelope did not seem to act as a barrier for permeation of 1,2-dichloroethane.