Effect of Glycine, Glutamate, and Glucose on Proliferation of PCP (Pentachlorophenol)-Degrading Microorganisms in Soil

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Abstract
Pentachlorophenol (PCP) had been used as both herbicide and fungicide. Although its application to paddy fields as herbicide is prohibited because of its toxicity to organisms living in water-streams, it is still used as fungicide for upland crops or timber. Its microbial degradation has been reported by many authors (Cserjesi and Johnson 1972; Watanabe and Hayashi 1972; Watanabe 1973, 1975, 1977; Kuwatsuka and Igarashi 1975; Suzuki 1983a, b; Engerhardt et al. 1986), including the degradation in soil (Watanabe and Hayashi 1972; Kuwatsuka and Igarashi 1975; Watanabe 1977). Since almost all of the PCP-degrading microorganisms isolated from soil are common species which are not nutritionally fastidious (Watanabe 1973; Suzuki 1983a, b), the microorganisms can grow in utilizing some common nutrients present in soil. Therefore, it is interesting to determine how they degrade the pesticide in the presence of common nutrients in the case of mixed populations in soil because biological relations between the degrading microorganisms and the non-degrading ones for the degradation of the pesticide and utilization of the common nutrients may occur. This is an important subject from the view-point of ecology of microorganisms degrading xenobiotic compounds in soil.