Isolation and characterization of autotrophic, hydrogen-utilizing, perchlorate-reducing bacteria

Recent studies have shown that perchlorate (ClO4-) can be degraded by some pure-culture and mixed-culture bacteria with the addition of hydrogen. This paper describes the isolation of two hydrogen-utilizing perchlorate-degrading bacteria capable of using inorganic carbon for growth. These autotrophic bacteria are within the genus Dechloromonas and are the first Dechloromonas species that are microaerophilic and incapable of growth at atmospheric oxygen concentrations. Dechloromonas sp. JDS5 and Dechloromonas sp. JDS6 are the first perchlorate-degrading autotrophs isolated from a perchlorate-contaminated site. Measured hydrogen thresholds were higher than for other environmentally significant, hydrogen-utilizing, anaerobic bacteria (e.g., halorespirers). The chlorite dismutase activity of these bacteria was greater for autotrophically grown cells than for cells grown heterotrophically on lactate. These bacteria used fumarate as an alternate electron acceptor, which is the first report of growth on an organic electron acceptor by perchlorate-reducing bacteria.