In vitro degradation of dicyclopentadiene by microbial consortia isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated soil

Degradation of dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) to carbon dioxide and oxygenated intermediates was established in the laboratory. Screening of many inocula using BIOLOGMT plates showed that no single colony isolate readily mineralized DCPD. Mixed cultures from a variety of environmental sources produced 14CO2 when incubated with [14C]DCPD, but most of the DCPD was metabolized to oxygenated intermediates that could be extracted from the culture liquid and detected using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. Stimulation of environmental inocula with nutrients and preexposure to DCPD before testing for degradation gave mineralization rates after 25 days of in vitro incubation that were twice as fast as those previously reported.