Microbial diversity and changes in the distribution of dehalogenase genes during dechlorination with different concentrations of cis-DCE.

A dechlorinating consortium (designated as TES-1 culture) able to convert trichloroethene (TCE) to ethene was established from TCE-contaminated groundwater. This culture had the ability of complete dechlorination of TCE within about one month. From the clone library analysis of 16S rRNA gene, this culture was mainly composed of fermentation bacteria, such as Clostridium spp., and Desulfitobacterium spp. known as facultative dechlorinator. PCR using specific primers for Dehalococcoides spp. and the dehalogenase genes confirmed that the culture contained the Dehalococcoides spp. 16S rRNA gene and three dehalogenase genes, tceA, vcrA and bvcA. Dechlorination experiments using cis-dichloroethene (cis-DCE) at concentrations of 37-146 μM, revealed that the gene copy numbers of tceA, vcrA, and bvcA increased up to 10⁷ copy/mL, indicating that Dehalococcoides spp. containing these three dehalogenase genes were involved in cis-DCE dechlorination. However, in the culture to which 292 μM of cis-DCE was added, only the tceA gene and the Dehalococcoides spp. 16S rRNA gene increased up to 10⁷ copy/mL. The culture containing 292 μM of cis-DCE also exhibited about one tenth slower ethene production rate compared to the other cultures.