In the aerobic bacterium Chelatobacter heintzii, growth and regulation of enzymes involved in nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) degradation have been investigated in chemostat culture during cultivation with glucose, NTA or mixtures thereof. In batch culture ,urn,, with NTA was 018 h-I and with glucose 0.22 h-I. Growth yields for both substrates were reduced at low dilution rates. During growth with NTA specific activity of the NTA monooxygenase (NTA-MO) exhibited a maximum at D = 003 h-I and gradually decreased with increasing dilution rates. In glucose-grown cells the specific activity as well as immunologically detectable NTA-MO protein was always close to the detection limit. During cultivation with different mixtures of NTA and glucose at a dilution rate of 006 h-I, both substrates were utilized simultaneously, irrespective of the NTA/glucose ratio and the presence of excess ammonia. Synthesis of both NTA-MO and iminodiacetic acid dehydrogenase became induced when NTA contributed to more than approximately 1-3% of the total carbon in the substrate mixture supplied. However, NTA was also degraded when the proportion of NTA in the mixture was lower than 1 %, which is consistent with the low constitutive level of expression for NTA-MO observed. Results are discussed with respect to NTA biodegradation during sewage treatment and in ecosystems.

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