MICROBIAL CULTURE ADAPTATION TO BIODEGRADATION OF DIMETHYLTEREPHTHALATE
Lilia Tserovska1*, Raycho Dimkov2 and Yana Topalova2
1National Bank for Industrial Microorganisms and Cell
Cultures,
1113 Sofia, P.O.Box 239, Bulgaria,
2 The Sofia University, Biological Faculty, Department of
Hydrobiology and Ichthyology,
8 "Dragan Tsankov" st., 1421 Sofia, Bulgaria
Summary
Forty-five microbial cultures
have been isolated from a chemically polluted region, using dimethylterephthalate
(DMT) as a sole carbon and energy source. They have been subjected to adaptive
selection in order to increase their biodegradative potential. The gradual
increase of the xenobiotic substrate concentration from 2.5 to 25 mM induced
adaptive changes in the tested strains. 20% of the studied strains showed
a high biodegradative activity towards DMT and the best adaptation was
expressed by the soil microorganisms.