Anaerobic phenol degradation by microorganisms of swine manure

Swine manure contains diverse groups of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. An anaerobic bacterial consortium containing sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and acetate-utilizing methanogenic bacteria was isolated from swine manure. This consortium used phenol as its sole source of carbon and converted it to methane and CO2. The sulfate-reducing bacterial members of the consortium are the incomplete oxidizers, unable to carry out the terminal oxidation of organic substrates, leaving acetic acid as the end product. The methanogenic bacteria of the consortium converted the acetic acid to methane. When a methanogen inhibitor was used in the culture medium, phenol was converted to acetic acid by the SRB, but the acetic acid did not undergo further metabolism. On the other hand, when the growth of SRB in the consortium was suppressed with a specific SRB inhibitor, namely, molybdenum tetroxide, the phenol was not degraded. Thus, the metabolic activities of both the sulfate-reducing bacteria and the methanogenic bacteria were essential for complete degradation of phenol.