Abstract
Though our knowledge on microbial degradation of organic pollutants at high salt concentrations is still limited, the list of toxic compounds shown to be degraded or transformed in media of high salinity is growing. Compounds transformed aerobically include saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons (by certain archaeobacteria), certain aromatic compounds, organophosphorus compounds, and formaldehyde (by halotolerant eubacteria). Anaerobic microbial transformations of toxic compounds occurring at high salt concentrations include reduction of nitroaromatic compounds, and possibly transformation of chlorinated aromatic compounds.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Attwood MM & Quayle JR (1984) Formaldehyde as a central intermediary metabolite of methylotrophic metabolism. In: Crawford RL & Hanson RS (Eds) Microbial Growth on C1 Compounds (pp 315–323). American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC
Berry DF, Francis AJ & Bollag J-M (1987) Microbial metabolism of homocyclic and heterocyclic aromatic compounds under anaerobic conditions. Microbiol. Rev. 51: 43–59
Bertrand JC, Almallah M, Acquaviva M & Mille G (1990) Biodegradation of hydrocarbons by an extremely halophilic archaebacterium. Lett. Appl. Microbiol. 11: 260–263
Boone DR, Johnson RL, Chen DC, Mathrani IM & Mah RA (1989) Methanogenesis and reductive dechlorinations in an alkaline, hypersaline sediments and groundwater. In: Da Costa MS, Duarte JC & Williams RAD (Eds) Microbiology of Extreme Environments and its Potential for Biotechnology (pp 205–215). Elsevier Applied Science, London
Boyd SA, Shelton DR, Berry D & Tiedje JM (1983) Anaerobic biodegradation of phenolic compounds in digested sludge. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 46: 50–54
DeFrank J & Cheng T-C (1991) Purification and properties of an organophosphorus acid anhydrase from a halophilic bacterium. J. Bacteriol. 173: 1938–1943
Del Moral A, Prado B, Quesada E, Garcia T, Ferrer R & Ramos-Cormenzana A (1988) Numerical taxonomy of moderately halophilic Gram-negative rods from an inland saltern. J. Gen. Microbiol. 134: 733–741
Escalante-Semerena JC, Leigh JA, Rinehart KLJr. & Wolfe RS (1984) Formaldehyde activation factor, tetrahydromethanopterin, a coenzyme of methanogenesis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81: 1976–1980
Garcia MT, Ventosa A, Ruiz-Berraquero F & Kocur M (1987) Taxonomic study and amended description of Vibrio costicola. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 37: 352–360.
Gurevich P, Oren A, Sarig S & Henis Y (1993) Reduction of aromatic nitro compounds in anaerobic ecosystems. Water Sci. Technol. (in press)
Kaulfers P-M & Brandt D (1987) Isolation of a conjugative plasmid in Escherichia coli determining formaldehyde resistance. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 43: 161–163
Kaulfers P-M & Laufs R (1985) Übertragbare Formaldehydresistenz bei Serratia marcescens. Zbl. Bakt. Hyg., I. Abt. Orig. B 181: 309–319
Kaulfers P-M & Marquardt A (1991) Demonstration of formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity in formaldehyde-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 79: 335–338
Mancinelli S & Hochstein LI (1986) The occurrence of denitrification in extremely halophilic bacteria. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 35: 55–58
Mille G, Almallah M, Bianchi M, van Wambeke F & Bertrand JC (1991) Effect of salinity on petroleum degradation. Fresenius J. Anal. Chem. 339: 788–791
Oren A (1986) Intracellular salt concentrations of the anaerobic halophilic eubacteria Haloanaerobium praevalens and Halobacterioides halobius. Can. J. Microbiol. 32: 4–9
Oren A (1988) Anaerobic degradation of organic compounds at high salt concentrations. A. v. Leeuwenhoek 54: 267–277
Oren A (1990a) Anaerobic degradation of organic compounds in hypersaline environments: possibilities and limitations. In: Wise DL (Ed) Bioprocessing and Biotreatment of Coal (pp 155–175). Marcel Dekker, New York
Oren A (1990b) Estimation of the contribution of halobacteria to the bacterial biomass and activity in solar salterns by the use of bile salts. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 73: 41–48
Oren A (1990c) The use of protein synthesis inhibitors in the estimation of the contribution of halophilic archaebacteria to bacterial activity in hypersaline environments. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 73: 187–192
Oren A (1990d) Formation and breakdown of glycine betaine and trimethylamine in hypersaline environments. A. v. Leeuwenhoek 58: 291–298
Oren A (1990e) Microbial formation of methane from pretreated lignite at high salt concentrations. In: Wise DL (ed) Bioprocessing and Biotreatment of Coal (pp 449–463). Marcel Dekker, New York
Oren A (1991a) Estimation of the contribution of archaebacteria and eubacteria to the bacterial biomass and activity in hypersaline ecosystems: novel approaches. In: Rodriguez-Valera F (Ed) General and Applied Aspects of Halophilic Microorganisms (pp 25–31). Plenum Press, New York
Oren A (1991b) The genera Haloanaerobium, Halobacteroides, and Sporohalobacter. In: Balows A, Trüper HG, Dworkin M, Harder W & Schleifer K-H (Eds) The Prokaryotes. A Handbook on the Biology of Bacteria: Ecophysiology, Isolation, Identification, Applications 2nd ed, Vol II (pp 1893–1900). Springer-Verlag, New York
Oren A & Trüper HG (1990) Anaerobic growth of halophilic archaeobacteria by reduction of dimethylsulfoxide and trimethylamine N-oxide. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 70: 33–36
Oren A, Gurevich P & Henis Y (1991) Reduction of nitrosubstituted aromatic compounds by the halophilic anaerobic eubacteria Haloanaerobium praevalens and Sporohalobacter marismortui. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 57: 3367–3370
Rafii F, Franklin W, Heflich RH & Cerniglia CE (1991) Reduction of nitroaromatic compounds by anaerobic bacteria isolated from the human gastrointestinal tract. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 57: 962–968
Rengpipat S, Lowe SE & Zeikus JG (1988) Effect of extreme salt concentrations on the physiology and biochemistry of Halobacteroides acetoethylicus. J. Bacteriol. 170: 3065–3071
Rosenberg A (1983) Pseudomonas halodurans sp. nov., a halotolerant bacterium. Arch. Microbiol. 136: 117–123
Tindall BJ (1991) The family Halobacteriaceae. In: Balows A, Trüper HG, Dworkin M, Harder W & Schleifer K-H (Eds) The Prokaryotes. A Handbook on the Biology of Bacteria: Ecophysiology, Isolation, Identification, Applications, 2nd ed, Vol I (pp 768–808). Springer-Verlag, New York
Trüper HG, Severin J, Wohlfahrt A, Müller A & Galinski EA (1991) Halophily, taxonomy, phylogeny and nomenclature. In: Rodriguez-Valera F (Ed) General and Applied Aspects of Halophilic Microorganisms (pp 3–7). Plenum Press, New York
Ventosa A, Quesada E, Rodriguez-Valera F, Ruiz-Berraquero F & Ramos-Cormenzana A (1982) Numerical taxonomy of moderately halophilic gram-negative rods. J. Gen. Microbiol. 128: 1959–1968
Ward DM & Brock TD (1978) Hydrocarbon degradation in hypersaline environments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 35: 353–359
Wise DL (1987) Meeting report — first international workshop on biogasification and biorefining of Texas lignite. Res. Conserv. 15: 229–247
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oren, A., Gurevich, P., Azachi, M. et al. Microbial degradation of pollutants at high salt concentrations. Biodegradation 3, 387–398 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129095
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129095