Cometabolism of methyl tert-butyl ether by a new microbial consortium ERS

The release of methyl tert-butyl-ether (MTBE) into the environment has increased the worldwide concern about the pollution of MTBE. In this paper, a microbial consortium was isolated from the soil sample near an oil station, which can degrade MTBE directly with a low biomass yield and MTBE degrading efficiency. Further research has indicated that this consortium can degrade MTBE efficiently when grown on n-octane as the cometabolic substrate. The results of 16S rDNA based on phylogenetic analysis of the selected operating taxonomic units (OTUs) involved in the consortium revealed that one OTU was related to Pseudomonas putida GPo1, which could cometabolically degrade MTBE on the growth of n-octane. This may help explain why n-octane could be the optimal cometabolic substrate of the consortium for MTBE degradation. Furthermore, the degradation of MTBE was observed along with the consumption of n-octane. Different K_s values for MTBE were observed for cells grown with or without n-octane, suggesting that different enzymes are responsible for the oxidation of MTBE in cells grown on n-octane or MTBE. The results are discussed in terms of their impacts on our understanding of MTBE biodegradation and cometabolism.