Appl Microbiol Biotechnol (2001) 57:786–790
DOI 10.1007/s00253-001-0830-6
Abstract The biotransformation of 1,2,3,4-tetrachloro-
dibenzo-p-dioxin (1,2,3,4-tetraCDD) under anaerobic
sulfate-reducing, methanogenic, and iron-reducing con-
ditions was examined with anaerobic enrichment cul-
tures established with sediment from an estuarine inter-
tidal strait in the New York/New Jersey harbor. In addi-
tion, the effect of prior enrichment on 2-bromophenol or
a mixture of 2-, 3-, and 4-bromophenol on dioxin de-
chlorination was examined. All enrichments were spiked
with 1 ppm 1,2,3,4-tetraCDD and monitored by gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry for up to a 3-year
period. Reductive dechlorination was initially observed
only under methanogenic conditions in the cultures
enriched on all three bromophenol isomers. 1,2,3,4-
TetraCDD was dechlorinated in the lateral position to
1,2,4-triCDD. The initial appearance of 1,2,4-triCDD
was observed after 2 months, with further dechlorination
to 1,3-diCDD within 17 months.
Introduction
Marine and estuarine waters in many coastal regions are
frequently impacted by sediment and water contamina-
tion from urban and industrial sources. The New
York/New Jersey harbor region in particular has been
heavily impacted over the past two centuries by both in-
dustrial and municipal activities. Based on surface sedi-
ment concentrations, the National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration (NOAA) has ranked the New
York/New Jersey estuary as one of the most chemically
contaminated waterways in the United States (Crawford
et al. 1994). In addition to the contamination problem,
the harbor must be continually dredged in order to
maintain ports and shipping channels. A large portion of
the dredged materials are contaminated with toxic halo-
genated chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), and polychlorinated dioxins (PCDDs). Since
contaminated sediments can no longer be dumped off-
shore, there is a serious need for environmentally safe
technologies to treat dredge spoils as well as sediments
in situ (National Research Council 1997).
The use of bioremediation to detoxify sediment con-
taminated with chlorinated chemicals has been studied
extensively as an attractive alternative to other physico-
chemical methods. The occurrence of microbial reduc-
tive dechlorination of PCBs in the environment is well
documented (for reviews see Bedard and Quensen 1995;
Wiegel and Wu 2000). Dechlorination occurs mainly un-
der methanogenic conditions, and different dechlorina-
tion patterns of PCBs which are conceivably the result of
the activity of different microbial populations have been
established and characterized (Bedard and Quensen
1995). Less information on the fate of PCDDs in anaero-
bic soils and sediments is available. Dechlorination of
PCDDs has been demonstrated to occur abiotically
(Adriaens et al. 1996; Barkovskii and Adriaens 1998; Fu
et al. 1999) and is also mediated by anaerobic microor-
ganisms (Adriaens et al. 1995; Beurskens et al. 1995;
Barkovskii and Adriaens 1996; Ballerstedt et al. 1997).
Aerobic biotransformation of dioxins by the white-rot
fungus Phanerochaete sordida has also been reported
(Takada et al. 1996). Anaerobic dechlorination of PCDDs
in historically contaminated sediments has been demon-
strated through single congener studies (Adriaens and
Grbic´-Galic´ 1994; Adriaens et al. 1995; Beurskens et al.
1995; Barkovskii and Adriaens 1996). In studies per-
C. Vargas · D.E. Fennell · M.M. Häggblom (
✉
)
Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment,
Cook College, Rutgers University,
The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick,
NJ 08901, USA
e-mail: haggblom@aesop.rutgers.edu
Tel.: +1-732-9329763, Fax: +1-732-9328965
D.E. Fennell · M.M. Häggblom
Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the
Environment and Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology,
Cook College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8525, USA
Present address:
C. Vargas, DeVry College of Technology, 630 U.S. Highway One,
North Brunswick, NJ 08902-3362, USA
ORIGINAL PAPER
C. Vargas · D. E. Fennell · M. M. Häggblom
Anaerobic reductive dechlorination of chlorinated dioxins
in estuarine sediments
Received: 11 May 2001 / Received revision: 19 July 2001 / Accepted: 3 September 2001 / Published online: 16 October 2001
© Springer-Verlag 2001