Biodegradation of Carbon Tetrachloride in Groundwater: Microbial Community Shifts and Functional Genes Involvement in...

Carbon tetrachloride (CT) is a toxic volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon, posing a serious hazard to ecosystem and human health. This study discussed the bioremediation possibility of groundwater contaminated by CT. Enhanced reductive dechlorination bioremediation (ERD) was used to promote the reductive dechlorination process of CT by adding yeast extract as a supplementary electron donor. The microcosm samples of the Control and Experi group were setup in the experiment, and the CT degradation efficiency and microbial community structure changes over 150 days were monitored. The results showed that the Experi group achieved complete degradation of CT within 40 days, while the control group had no significant change. By analyzing the physical and chemical indexes such as VFAs, sulfate ions, oxidation-reduction potential, pH value and so on, the key changes in the degradation process of CT were revealed. Microbial community analysis showed that specific microorganisms such as Acinetobacter johnsonii, Aeromonas media and Enterobacter mori played a significant role in the degradation of CT. They may produce hydrogen through fermentation to provide electron donors for the reductive dechlorination of CT. In addition, the genes of reductive dehalogenase synthase related to CT degradation were also identified, which provided molecular evidence for understanding the biodegradation mechanism of CT. The results deliver a scientific basis for optimizing the bioremediation strategy of CT-contaminated groundwater.