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Biomedical subjects

C G Daughton

Publications and source records attributed to C G Daughton.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Accelerated parathion degradation in soil inoculated with acclimated bacteria under field conditions.

The feasibility of decontaminating soil at parathion spillage or disposal sites by inoculation with a highly acclimated culture of parathion-degrading bacteria was demonstrated under in situ field conditions. The acclimated culture (AC), capable of utilizing parathion as a sole carbon and energy source, was inoculated into Yolo silt loam soil in which parathion was applied at rates up to 5000 kg/ha. The AC was shown to be capable of completely degrading parathion in soil containing up to 1250 kg/ha of parathion within 35 days. A slower rate of parathion degradation by the AC was observed when the pesticide was applied as the commercial 46.5% emulsifiable concentrate than when applied as the 98% technical grade. The ability of the AC to degrade parathion deteriorated at application rates greater than 1250 kg/ha. The AC may have been adversely affected by the accumulation of the parathion hydrolytic products, p-nitrophenol and ionic diethyl thiophosphate, which were tentatively identified in soil samples.

Biodegradation, Environmental

Phosphate and soil binding: factors limiting bacterial degradation of ionic phosphorus-containing pesticide metabolites.

Soils that had a high binding capacity for inorganic orthophosphate (Pi) had reduced capacities to bind ionic alkyl phosphorus compounds. Only ionic methylphosphonate (MPn) and ionic phenylphosphonate exhibited moderate binding. Pseudomonas testosteroni used either MPn or Pi as a sole phosphorus source and exhibited diauxic utilization of MPn and Pi. The utilization of MPn was suppressed in the presence of Pi. This suppression was abolished by a Pi-binding soil. The soil did not have a significant effect on the maximum rate of degradation of either MPn or the poorly bound ionic O-isopropyl methylphosphonate, whereas the amount of MPn (but not the amount of O-isopropyl methylphosphonate) metabolized was reduced in the presence of soil

Biodegradation, Environmental

Phosphorus-containing pesticide breakdown products: quantitative utilization as phosphorus sources by bacteria.

Bacteria were isolated that could utilize representatives of the following ionic phosphorus-containing breakdown products of organophosphorus pesticides as sole phosphorus sources: dialkyl phosphates, dialkyl phosphorothioates, dialkyl phosphorodithioates, alkyl arylphosphonates, alkyl arylphosphonothioates, and alkyl alkylphosphonates. Utilization of each organophosphorus compound, which was complete for 7 of 12 compounds studied, was confirmed by determination of protein yield from the amount of phosphorus source consumed. This is the first report of the utilization of an ionic dialkyl thiophosphate or dithiophosphate by microorganisms.

Bacteria

Phosphonate utilization by bacteria.

Bacteria able to use at least one of 13 ionic alkylphosphonates of O-alkyl or O,O-dialkyl alkylphosphonates as phosphorus sources were isolated from sewage and soil. Four of these isolates used 2-aminoethylphosphonic acid (AEP) as a sole carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus source. None of the other phosphonates served as a carbon source for the organisms. One isolate, identified as Pseudomonas putida, grew with AEP as its sole carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus source and released nearly all of the organic phosphorus as orthophosphate and 72% of the AEP nitrogen as ammonium. This is the first demonstration of utilization of a phosphonoalkyl moiety as a sole carbon source. Cell-free extracts of P. putida contained an inducible enzyme system that required pyruvate and pyridoxal phosphate to release orthophosphate from AEP; acetaldehyde was tentatively identified as a second product. Phosphite inhibited the enzyme system.

Aminoethylphosphonic Acid

Parathion utilization by bacterial symbionts in a chemostat.

A continuous-culture device was used to select and enrich for microorganisms, from sewage and agricultural runoff, that were capable of using the organophosphorus insecticide parathion as a sole growth substrate. Parathion was dissimilated by the highly acclimated symbiotic activities of Pseudomonas stutzeri, which non-oxidatively and cometabolically hydrolyzed the parathion to ionic diethyl thiophosphate and p-nitrophenol, and P. aeruginosa, which utilized the p-nitrophenol as a sole carbon and energy source. Ionic diethyl thiophosphate was found to be inert to any transformations. Methyl parathion was dissimilated in an analogous way. The device functioned as a chemostat with parathion as the growth-limiting nutrient, and extraordinarily high dissimilation rates were attained for parathion (8 g/liter per day) and for p-nitrophenol (7 g/liter per day). This is the first report of parathion utilization by a defined microbial culture and by symbiotic microbial attack and of dissimilation of an organophosphorus pesticide in a chemostat.

Hydrolysis