Characterization of a Newly Isolated cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene and Aliphatic Compound-Degrading Bacterium, Clostridium sp. Strain KYT-1

A cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (cis-DCE)-degrading anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium sp. strain KYT-1, was isolated from a sediment sample collected from a landfill site in Nanji-do, Seoul, Korea. The KYT-1 strain is a gram-positive, endospore-forming, motile, rod-shaped anaerobic bacterium, of approximately $2.5{\sim}3.0\;{\mu}m$ in length. The degradation of cis-DCE is closely related with the growth of the KYT-1 strain, and it was stopped when the growth of the KYT-1 strain became constant. Although the pathway of cis-DCE degradation by strain KYT-1 remains to be further elucidated, no accumulation of the harmful intermediate, vinyl chloride (VC), was observed during anaerobic cis-DCE degradation. Strain KYT-1 proved able to degrade a variety of volatile organic compounds, including VC, isomers of DCE (1,1-dichloroethylene, trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, and cis-DCE), trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and 1,1,2-trichloroethane. Strain KYT-1 degraded cis-DCE at a range of temperatures from $15\;to\;37^{\circ}C$, with an optimum at $30^{\circ}C$, and at a pH range of 5.5 to 8.5, with an optimum at 7.0.