Polyvinyl alcohol biodegradation under denitrifying conditions

Polyvinyl alcohol was biodegraded under denitrifying conditions with a microbial community originated from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The derived microbial consortium was capable of polyvinyl alcohol degradation under both denitrifying and aerobic conditions. The community dynamics was monitored by temperature gradient gel electrophoresis, and a principal utilizing organism was identified and assigned as Steroidobacter sp. PD. The possible role of Steroidobacter sp. PD was also investigated by sequencing the 16S rDNA clone library prepared from the degrading community. qPCR analysis showed that the fraction of the microorganism in the community was very low initially (0.02%) and had reached to about 16% by the end of the biodegradation experiment. The study revealed that polyvinyl alcohol can be biodegraded in a water environment not only under aerobic but also under denitrifying conditions.