Study of novel pure culture HBCD-1, effectively degrading Hexabromocyclododecane, isolated from an anaerobic reactor

In this study, two pure strains, named HBCD-1 and HBCD-2, were isolated from a continuous anaerobic reactor over 300-days acclimation, which processed high capability of biodegrading Hexabromocyclododecane. Both of the two strains degraded HBCD diastereomers in different extents, especially strain HBCD-1, which interestingly degraded α-HBCD effectively. All of the degrading results were well fitted with the first-order kinetics model. By morphological observation and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the strain HBCD-1 showed highest similarity with Achromobacter sp. Under the optimal culturing conditions of 30 °C, pH 7 and the initial HBCD concentration of 500 μg/L, the biodegradation rate of HBCD-1 reached 90% after 8 days treatment. Moreover, during the biodegradation process by HBCD-1 strain, the concentration of bromide ion was lower than the theoretical value. Finally, 4 metabolites were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), as well as a biodegradation pathway was proposed.