[Bacterial reductive transformation of aromatic nitro compounds]

The transformation of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and other aromatic nitro compounds by bacteria was studied in the course of their growth in a medium containing glucose. Various bacteria were found, for the first time, to be capable of growth in the presence of 200 mg/l of TNT and of transformation of the compound with a higher or lesser activity. The results indicate that Gram-negative bacteria play a key role in TNT transformation under natural conditions. The nitro group reduction is the principal step in the bacterial action on the studied compounds. It is noteworthy that there is no correlation between the degree of nitro reduction and the susceptibility of the bacteria to the toxic effect of benzoic acid, phenol and benzene nitro derivatives.