Characterization of co-metabolic biodegradation of methyl tert-butyl ether by a Acinetobacter sp. strain

Co-metabolic bioremediation is a promising approach for the elimination of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), which is a common pollutant found worldwide in ground water. In this paper, a bacterial strain able to co-metabolically degrade MTBE was isolated and named as Acinetobacter sp. SL3 based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. Strain SL3 could grow on n-alkanes (C(5)–C(8)) accompanied with the co-metabolic degradation of MTBE. The number of carbons present in the n-alkane substrate significantly influenced the degradation rate of MTBE and accumulation of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA), with n-octane resulting in a higher MTBE degradation rate (V(max) = 36.7 nmol min(−1) mg(protein)(−1), K(s) = 6.4 mmol L(−1)) and lower TBA accumulation rate. A degradation experiment in a fed-batch reactor revealed that the efficiency of MTBE degradation by Acinetobacter sp. strain SL3 did not show an obvious decrease after nine rounds of MTBE replenishment ranging from 0.1–0.5 mmol L(−1). The results of this paper reveal the preferable properties of Acinetobacter sp. SL3 for the bioremediation of MTBE via co-metabolism and leads towards the development of new MTBE elimination technologies.