Mineralization of the herbicide 2,3,6-trichlorobenzoic acid by a co-culture of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria

Abstract Bacteria from an anaerobic enrichment reductively removed chlorine from the ortho- position of 2,3,6-trichlorobenzoic acid (2,3,6-TBA) producing 2,5-dichlorobenzoate (2,5-DBA). The strictly aerobic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa JB2 subsequently used 2,5-DBA as a growth substrate in the presence of oxygen. The anaerobic dechlorinating microbial population was grown with P. aeruginosa JB2 in continuous culture. Inside the liquid culture, a nylon netting, on a stainless-steel support, contained vermiculite particles to provide a strictly anaerobic environment within the aerated culture. Complete mineralization of 2,3,6-TBA depended on the extent of oxygen input into the reactor. Under strictly anaerobic conditions 2,5-DBA and Cl⁻ were produced stoichiometrically through the reductive dechlorination of 2,3,6-TBA. This process of reductive dechlorination was not inhibited by (moderate) aeration resulting in an O₂-concentration of 0.3–0.5 μM in the culture liquid.