Nitrobenzene biodegradation ability of microbial communities in water and sediments along the Songhua River after a nitrobenzene pollution event

More than 100 t of nitrobenzene (NB) and related compounds were discharged into the Songhua River, the fourth longest river in China, because of the world-shaking explosion of an aniline production factory located in Jilin City on November 13, 2005. As one of the efforts to predict the fate of residual NB in the river, NB biodegradation abilities by microbes in the water and sediments from different river sections were evaluated systematically. The results indicated that microbial communities from any section of the river, including one section at the upper stream of the NB discharging point, had the ability to biodegrade NB under aerobic (for river water samples) conditions at 22±1°C or anaerobic (for sediment samples) conditions at 10±1°C. NB degradation rates of microbial communities in the downstream sites were markedly higher than those in the upstream site, indicating that NB degradation abilities were enhanced because of the pollution of NB. Aerobic degradation got neglected at a temperature of 10°C or lower. The production of nitrosobenzene and aniline during aerobic biodegradation suggested the existence of at least two different NB degradation pathways, and the occurrence of the catechol-2,3-dioxygenase (C23O) gene and the significant decrease of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) indicated that NB could be mineralized under aerobic conditions. Although it was a fact that the river have frozen-up during the NB accident, it was speculated that biodegradation was not the major process responsible for the decrease of NB flux in the river.