Abstract
Batch experiments on the simultaneous utilization of phenol (primary substrate) and 4-chlorophenol (cometabolic secondary substrate) demonstrated two critical substrate interactions. First, the cometabolic degradation of 4-chlorophenol was proportional to the rate of phenol oxidation, which provided the electrons for the initial monooxygenase reaction. Second, 4-chlorophenol inhibited the oxidation of the primary substrate, phenol. Modeling analyses of the degradation of phenol alone and of phenol and 4-chlorophenol together showed that the proportionality between phenol and 4-chlorophenol degradation rates averaged 0.1 mg 4-CP/mg phenol, which corresponds to 0.5% of the electrons generated by phenol oxidation being used as a cosubstrate for the monooxygenase reaction of 4-chlorophenol. In addition, modeling analyses suggest that 4-chlorophenol was a noncompetitive inhibitor of phenol oxidation for high phenol concentrations, but a competitive inhibitor for low phenol concentrations.
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Abbreviations
- GC:
-
gas chromatography
- FID:
-
flame-ionization detector
- DO:
-
dissolved oxygen
- 4-CP:
-
4-chlorophenol
- Ph:
-
phenol
- RLS:
-
relative least squares criterion
- NAD:
-
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
- NADP:
-
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate
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Saéz, P.B., Rittmann, B.E. Biodegradation kinetics of a mixture containing a primary substrate (phenol) and an inhibitory co-metabolite (4-chlorophenol). Biodegradation 4, 3–21 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00701451
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00701451