Alternative method for rapidly screening microbial isolates for their potential to degrade volatile contaminants.

A method is described for rapidly screening the metabolic potential of bacteria to oxidize semivolatile and volatile compounds as a sole carbon source. The method is based on an automated system that utilizes Microplates manufactured by Biolog, Inc. (Hayward, CA, USA). This system detects bacterial respiratory activity from the oxidation of a carbon source introduced in volatile form. This is in contrast to the original design, which is based on inoculating a carbon source directly into each well. The 96-well (MT) microtiter plates contain nutrients and a tetrazolium dye. When a bacterial species is capable of oxidizing a volatile carbon substrate, the dye turns purple, and a spectrophotometric plate reader quantifies the response. As a test of this method 150 isolates, including isolates known to degrade some of the test compounds and negative controls were evaluated for their potential to oxidize carbon tetrachloride, toluene, and o-xylene. Thirty-seven isolates (25%) were qualitatively identified as contaminant oxidizers, and thirteen of these (35%) showed significant degradation capabilities for both toluene and o-xylene.