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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Aerobic Biodegradation Testing of Materials Using a Natural Marine Seawater Inoculum and Closed Loop Respirometer
Published on: October 24, 2025
Aerobic cometabolism of tetrabromobisphenol A by marine bacterial consortia
Chen Gu1, Jing Wang2, Zelong Zhao1
1Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China.
Abstract:
The coastal environments worldwide are subjected to increasing TBBPA contamination, but current knowledge on aerobic biodegradability of this compound by marine microbes is lacking. The aerobic removal of TBBPA using marine consortia under eight different cometabolic conditions was investigated here. Results showed that the composition and diversity of the TBBPA-degrading consortia had diverged after 120-day incubation. Pseudoalteromonas, Alteromonas, Glaciecola, Thalassomonas, and Limnobacter were the dominant genera in enrichment cultures. Furthermore, a combination of beef extract- and peptone-enriched marine consortia exhibited higher TBBPA removal efficiency (approximately 60%) than the other substrate amendments. Additionally, Alteromonas macleodii strain GCW was isolated from a culture of TBBPA-degrading consortium. This strain exhibited about 90% of degradation efficiency toward TBBPA (10 mg L-1) after 10 days of incubation under aerobic cometabolic conditions. The intermediates in the degradation of TBBPA by A. macleodii strain GCW were analyzed and the degradation pathways were proposed, involving β-scission, debromination, and nitration routes.
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