Metabolism of pentachlorophenol by a soil microbe

Abstract

Metabolism of pentachlorophenol (PCP)‐ring‐¹⁴C(U) by a microorganism (Pseudomonas sp.) isolated from soil was examined. The microorganism degraded PCP‐¹⁴C rapidly, and released ¹⁴CO₂ equivalent to approximately 50% of the PCP‐¹⁴C added to the bacterial cell suspension in 1 hour of incubation. The results of amino acid analysis of the bacterial cells incubated with PCP‐¹⁴C showed that radioactive carbon derived from PCP‐¹⁴C was incorporated rapidly into the cell constituents, and that the pattern of ¹⁴C‐amino acids in the cell constituents was not much different between the 15 minute and 24 hour incubation periods. Intermediate metabolites of PCP isolated from the incubation medium were identified as tetrachlorocatechol and tetrachlorohydroquinone by spectral analyses.