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Dechlorination and organohalide-respiring bacteria dynamics in sediment samples of the Yangtze Three Gorges Reservoir

  • Processes and Environmental Quality in the Yangtze River System
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Abstract

Several groups of bacteria such as Dehalococcoides spp., Dehalobacter spp., Desulfomonile spp., Desulfuromonas spp., or Desulfitobacterium spp. are able to dehalogenate chlorinated pollutants such as chloroethenes, chlorobenzenes, or polychlorinated biphenyls under anaerobic conditions. In order to assess the dechlorination potential in Yangtze sediment samples, the presence and activity of the reductively dechlorinating bacteria were studied in anaerobic batch tests. Eighteen sediment samples were taken in the Three Gorges Reservoir catchment area of the Yangtze River, including the tributaries Jialing River, Daning River, and Xiangxi River. Polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated the presence of dechlorinating bacteria in most samples, with varying dechlorinating microbial community compositions at different sampling locations. Subsequently, anaerobic reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene (PCE) was tested after the addition of electron donors. Most cultures dechlorinated PCE completely to ethene via cis-dichloroethene (cis-DCE) or trans-dichloroethene. Dehalogenating activity corresponded to increasing numbers of Dehalobacter spp., Desulfomonile spp., Desulfitobacterium spp., or Dehalococcoides spp. If no bacteria of the genus Dehalococcoides spp. were present in the sediment, reductive dechlorination stopped at cis-DCE. Our results demonstrate the presence of viable dechlorinating bacteria in Yangtze samples, indicating their relevance for pollutant turnover.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, grant no.: 02WT1130). This study is part of the Sino-German Yangtze-Hydro Project (www.yangtze-project.de).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Environmental Biotechnology, DVGW-Technologiezentrum Wasser (TZW), Karlsruher Straße 84, 76139, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Irene Kranzioch, Claudia Stoll & Andreas Tiehm

  2. Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Adenauerring 20b, Bldg. 50.40, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Andreas Holbach

  3. Institute of Water Environment Research, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), AnWai Dayangfang 8, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100012, People’s Republic of China

    Hao Chen, Lijing Wang & Binghui Zheng

  4. Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Stefan Norra

  5. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Donghuan Road 7, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Yonghong Bi

  6. Department Biosciences, Technische Universität München (TUM), Weihenstephaner Steig 23, 85350, Freising, Germany

    Yonghong Bi & Karl-Werner Schramm

  7. Molecular EXposomics (MEX), Department of Environmental Sciences, Helmholtz Zentrum München–German Research Center for Environmental Health, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    Karl-Werner Schramm

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  1. Irene Kranzioch
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  2. Claudia Stoll
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  3. Andreas Holbach
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  4. Hao Chen
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  5. Lijing Wang
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  6. Binghui Zheng
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  7. Stefan Norra
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  8. Yonghong Bi
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  9. Karl-Werner Schramm
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  10. Andreas Tiehm
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Correspondence to Andreas Tiehm.

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Kranzioch, I., Stoll, C., Holbach, A. et al. Dechlorination and organohalide-respiring bacteria dynamics in sediment samples of the Yangtze Three Gorges Reservoir. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 7046–7056 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1545-9

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