Nitroaromatics microbial degradation

Higson FK. 1992. Microbial degradation of nitroaromatic compounds. Adv AppI Microbiol 37 1-19 Hine J, Mookerjee PK. 1975. The intrinsic hydrophilic character of organic compounds Correlations... 

Binding of molecules of TNT or any one of a suite of related nitroaromatic compounds commonly associated with the presence of TNT (for example, 2,4-dinitrotoluene), or photochemical or microbial degradation products of TNT (1,3-dinitrobenzene or amino-dinitrotoluenes) results in a dramatic reduction in the emission intensity of films of AFP. The reduction in emission intensity is proportional to the mass of quencher adsorbed by the films and is measured by the sensor system. A schematic of an early Fido prototype is shown in Figure 4. 

The microbial degradation of nitroaromatics to catechol involves a series of reductions and oxidations, generally catalyzed by reductases and oxygenases. 

Figure 1. Microbial degradation of nitroaromatic compounds [23]. —, steps...

Higson, F. K. 1992. Microbial degradation of nitroaromatic compounds. In S. L.Neidleman and A. I. Laksin (ed.), Advances in applied microbiology, vol 37. Academic Press, New York. 

Until very recently, explosives-contaminated soils have been remediated by incineration, a process whose high cost has stimulated the search for a more economical cleanup method (Roberts et al., 1993). Microbially mediated degradation of explosives is a promising technology. Many researchers have studied microbial consortia and various pure cultures for their ability to degrade TNT and other nitroaromatic compounds (for a review see Crawford, 1995), bringing about the development of bioremediation processes that can remove TNT and other explosives from contaminated soil and water (Funk etal., 1995 Williams a/., 1992). 

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