A novel denitrifying bacterial isolate that degrades trimethylamine both aerobically and anaerobically via two different pathways

Abstract

The aerobic and anaerobic degradation of trimethylamine by a newly isolated denitrifying bacterium from an enrichment culture with trimethylamine inoculated with activated sludge was studied. Based on 16S rDNA analysis, this strain was identified as a Paracoccus sp. The isolate, strain T231, aerobically degraded trimethylamine, dimethylamine and methylamine and released a stoichiometric amount of ammonium ion into the culture fluid as a metabolic product, indicating that these methylated amines were completely degraded to formaldehyde and ammonia. The strain degraded trimethylamine also under denitrifying conditions and consumed a stoichiometric amount of nitrate, demonstrating that complete degradation of trimethylamine was coupled with nitrate reduction. Cell-free extract prepared from cells grown aerobically on trimethylamine exhibited activities of trimethylamine mono-oxygenase, trimethylamine N-oxide demethylase, dimethylamine mono-oxygenase, and methylamine mono-oxygenase. Cell-free extract from cells grown anaerobically on trimethylamine and nitrate exhibited activities of trimethylamine dehydrogenase and dimethylamine dehydrogenase. These results indicate that strain T231 had two different pathways for aerobic and anaerobic degradation of trimethylamine. This is a new feature for trimethylamine metabolism in denitrifying bacteria.

Synergistic Degradation of Linuron by a Bacterial Consortium and Isolation of a Single Linuron-Degrading Variovorax Strain

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a bacterial strain that can grow with N,O-DMHA as the sole source of C, N, and energy. Other members of the genus are able to degrade related compounds, such as trimethylamine, dimethylamine, and methylamine (25), as well as halomethanes, methyl sulfates, and methylated phosphates (27). Although it was assumed that N,O-DMHA would be degraded to hydroxylamine, no growth of WDL6 or one of the other strains was observed on hydroxylamine as an N source in the presence of methanol as a C source (Fig.…”

Trace Amines and Their Receptors

“…In addition, prokaryotes can convert TMAO back to trimethylamine (Zhang et al, 1999). Alternatively, dehydrogenase enzymes from at least some bacteria can convert trimethylamine into dimethylamine (Kim et al, 2001;Shi et al, 2005) with subsequent conversions to methylamine and ammonia (Kim et al, 2001), although whether this ability is shared by commensal bacteria is unknown.…”

Purification of waste gas containing high concentration trimethylamine in biotrickling filter inoculated with B350 mixed microorganisms

“…It can be emitted from fish-meal manufacturing plants (Kim et al, 2001) and swine waste storage pits (Ho et al, 2008). Besides its malodorous property and chronic harmful effects on humans, TMA can also inhibit the synthesis of macromolecules and has teratogenic effects on animal embryos (Guest and Varma, 1992).…”

“…The experimental slope was 53.1% of the theoretical slope, indicating that about 53.1% of TMA carbon was completely mineralized and that 46.9% remained as biomass, intermediates, or other forms. Kim et al (2001) reported that TMA could initially oxidize to dimethylamine by way of TMA N-oxide, then to methylamine by enzymes during biodegradation, and then finally oxidized to formaldehyde and NH 3 under aerobic conditions. However, only one intermediate, dimethylamine, was detected in the gas phase in the present study (Fig.…”