Screening and characterization of several 2,2-dicholoropropionic acid-degrading bacteria isolated from marine sediment of danga bay and east coast of Singapore Island

Industries and agriculture activities extensively utilize halogenated compounds. These compounds were found to be toxic and pollute the environment. Thus, many studies have been done on microbial degradation of these chemicals. In this study, an attempt was made to isolate bacterial strains EK1-EK5 from marine sediments collected at Danga Bay and east coast of Singapore island. The 16S rRNA analysis suggested that the isolated bacteria had more than 96% sequence identity to the sequence in the database; therefore, they were designated as Bacillus sp., Rhodococcus sp., Lysinibacillus sp., Microbacterium sp., and Aminobacter sp. The results of molecular analysis were supported by biochemical and microscopic examinations. Bacterial isolates were able to grow slowly in minimal medium containing only 2,2-dichloropropionate as the sole carbon source. The cellular doubling times were 39.60 ± 0.1, 36.60 ± 0.2, 30.71 ± 0.1, 41.23 ± 0.1, and 36.70 ± 0.3 h for EK1, EK2, EK3, EK4, and EK5, respectively. In the future, it will be important to further investigate the presence of the dehalogenase gene in their genomic DNA for further characterization