Biodegradation of Organophosphorus Pollutants by Soil Bacteria: Biochemical Aspects and Unsolved Problems

The degradation of stable organophosphorus pollutants has been studied in six soil bacterial isolates and three strains of bacteria adapted to utilize glyphosate herbicide (GP) under laboratory conditions. Significant differences in the uptake of organophosphonates were found in taxonomically close strains possessing similar enzymatic pathways of catabolism of these compounds, which suggests the existence of unknown mechanisms for the regulation of the activity of these enzymes. The effect of adaptation to GP utilization as the sole phosphorus source on the consumption rates of several other structurally different phosphonates was observed in the studied bacteria. New, highly efficient degrading strains that resulted in a GP decomposition of up to 56% after soil application were isolated. Unsolved problems of microbial GP metabolism and trends in further research on the creation of effective preparations for the bioremediation of soils contaminated with organophosphonates are discussed.