[Aerobic microbial degradation of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabrominated diphenyl ether]

By isolating a bacterial strain from the activated sludge of Gaobeidian wastewater treatment plant of Beijing and investigating its degradation property as well as the proteins involved in the degradation, this study aimed at elucidating the mechanism of microbial degradation of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-47) under aerobic condition. The streak plate method was employed in the isolation of the bacteria. The 16S rDNA of the isolated bacterium had maximum similarity of 90% to Acintobacter sp.. The degradation of BDE-47 by the isolated bacterium was studied in 250 mL conical flasks. At the initial concentration of 146 microg x L(-1), the bacterium degraded 45.44% BDE-47 after 63 d, the major product was 4-OH-BDE, and the bacterial mass was increased about seven times. BDE-47 and yeast extract were respectively used as the sole carbon source to enrich the bacterium for two weeks and then the proteins were extracted from the enrichments. Some specific proteins related to the degradation of BDE-47 were identified by analysis via the two dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometric detection. This study indicated that under aerobic condition BDE-47 can be degraded by bacteria as carbon source and multiple proteins are involved in the process.