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Enhanced Acetylene Biodegradation in Soil with History of Exposure to the Gas

Dep. of Agronomy and Horticulture

Ronald W. Leavitt

Dep. of Microbiology, 275 WIDB, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT 84602

* Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Enhanced biodegradation of acetylene (C₂H₂) in soils could affect experimental assays of N transformations when the gas is employed to inhibit specific enzymes. This study was conducted to examine enhanced biodegradation of C₂H₂ in field soils with histories of exposure to the gas and to isolate and identify the C₂H₂-metabolizing microbes. Soil samples from field sites previously exposed to C₂H₂ and from adjacent, unexposed areas were incubated in the laboratory under 1.0 kPa C₂H₂ in air and C₂H₂ metabolism was determined. Soil microbes adapted to C₂H₂ degradation within 7 d in samples from areas exposed to the gas 4 to 8 yr previously. Enhanced degradation of C₂H₂ in samples collected outside but adjacent to areas of previous exposure indicates that C₂H₂ metabolizers may have spread. Most-probable-numbers of C₂H₂ decomposers in excess of 50 000 g^–1 were found in soils near the sites of the 1981 and 1985 exposures to C₂H₂. Five strains of gram-positive, obligate aerobic bacteria capable of utilizing C₂H₂ as their sole C source were isolated and identified as Rhodococcus spp.

Received for publication August 12, 1991.