The soil bacterial isolate Variovorax sp. strain SRS16 mineralizes the phenylurea herbicide linuron. The proposed pathway initiates with hydrolysis of linuron to 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) and N,O-dimethylhydroxylamine, followed by conversion of DCA to Krebs cycle intermediates. Differential proteomic analysis showed a linuron-dependent upregulation of several enzymes that fit into this pathway, including an amidase (LibA), a multicomponent chloroaniline dioxygenase, and enzymes associated with a modified chlorocatechol ortho- The phenylurea herbicide linuron is a nonselective preemergent herbicide that acts as a photosystem II inhibitor. The herbicide is globally used to control a wide variety of annual and perennial broadleaf and grassy weeds in agricultural land. Microbial degradation is considered an important mechanism in the dissipation of linuron and other phenylurea herbicides in the environment. Several bacterial strains (39, 46), as well as consortia (5, 10), able to degrade and even use the compound as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen have been reported. Although derived from different geographical locations, most of the linuron-catabolizing isolates, either individual strains or key members of linurondegrading consortia, belong to the genus Variovorax. This suggests that this genus plays an important role in linuron degradation in soil. The proposed pathway of linuron catabolism starts with amide hydrolysis to 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) and N,O-dimethylhydroxylamine (N,O-DMHA) (Fig. 1). DCA is harmful and recalcitrant, while N,O-DMHA is not and degraded easily. Several linuron-degrading Variovorax strains, in addition to mediating linuron hydrolysis, are able to use DCA as the sole carbon source and mineralize it. To date, little is known about the genes and enzymes responsible for linuron and DCA degradation. Engelhardt et al. (13) described an arylacyl amidase responsible for conversion of linuron to DCA in Bacillus sphaericus ATCC 12123. In addition, phenylurea hydrolase-encoding genes puhA and puhB were identified in the linuron-degrading actinomycetes Arthrobacter globiformis D47 (52) and Mycobacterium brisbanense JK1 (23), respectively. PuhA and PuhB form a novel branch within the metal-dependent amidohydrolase superfamily (23). Regarding the degradation of DCA, Dejonghe (9) and Breugelmans et al. (6) found indications for the involvement of a multicomponent aniline dioxygenase enzyme in DCA degradation in Variovorax sp. strain WDL1. However, the genes responsible for DCA degradation in linuron-mineralizing bacteria have not yet been identified.We report here on the identification of the linuron and DCA degradation genes in the linuron-mineralizing strain Variovorax sp. strain SRS16 (46). The enzyme responsible for hydrolysis of linuron was purified and characterized. The expression of the catabolic genes under different conditions

Microcosms were used to examine whether pesticide-primed soils could be preferentially used over nonprimed soils for bioaugmentation of on-farm biopurification systems (BPS) to improve pesticide mineralization. Microcosms containing a mixture of peat, straw and either linuron-primed soil or nonprimed soil were irrigated with clean or linuron-contaminated water. The lag time of linuron mineralization, recorded for microcosm samples, was indicative of the dynamics of the linuron-mineralizing biomass in the system. Bioaugmentation with linuron-primed soil immediately resulted in the establishment of a linuron-mineralizing capacity, which increased in size when fed with the pesticide. Also, microcosms containing nonprimed soil developed a linuron-mineralizing population, but after extended linuron feeding. Additional experiments showed that linuron-mineralization only developed with some nonprimed soils. Concomitant with the increase in linuron degradation capacity, targeted PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis showed the proliferation of a Variovorax phylotype related to the linuron-degrading Variovorax sp. SRS16 in microcosms containing linuron-primed soil, suggesting the involvement of Variovorax in linuron degradation. The correlation between the appearance of specific Variovorax phylotypes and linuron mineralization capacity was less clear in microcosms containing nonprimed soil. The data indicate that supplementation of pesticide-primed soil results in the establishment of pesticide-mineralizing populations in a BPS matrix with more certainty and more rapidly than the addition of nonprimed soil.

The widespread agricultural application of carbofuran and concomitant contamination of surface and ground waters has raised health concerns due to the reported toxic effects of this insecticide and its degradation products. Most bacteria that degrade carbofuran only perform partial degradation involving carbamate hydrolysis without breakdown of the resulting phenolic metabolite. The capacity to mineralize carbofuran beyond the benzofuran ring has been reported for some bacterial strains, especially sphingomonads, and some common metabolites, including carbofuran phenol, were identified. In the current study, the catabolism of carbofuran by Novosphingobium sp. KN65.2 (LMG 28221), a strain isolated from a carbofuran-exposed Vietnamese soil and utilizing the compound as a sole carbon and nitrogen source, was studied. Several KN65.2 plasposon mutants with diminished or abolished capacity to degrade and mineralize carbofuran were generated and characterized. Metabolic profiling of representative mutants revealed new metabolic intermediates, in addition to the initial hydrolysis product carbofuran phenol. The promiscuous carbofuran-hydrolyzing enzyme Mcd, which is present in several bacteria lacking carbofuran ring mineralization capacity, is not encoded by the Novosphingobium sp. KN65.2 genome. An alternative hydrolase gene required for this step was not identified, but the constitutively expressed genes of the unique cfd operon, including the oxygenase genes cfdC and cfdE, could be linked to further degradation of the phenolic metabolite. A third involved oxygenase gene, cfdI, and the transporter gene cftA, encoding a TonB-dependent outer membrane receptor with potential regulatory function, are located outside the cfd cluster. This study has revealed the first dedicated carbofuran catabolic genes and provides insight in the early steps of benzofuran ring degradation.

Real-time PCR and PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) approaches that specifically target the Variovorax 16S rRNA gene were developed to estimate the number and diversity of Variovorax in environmental ecosystems. PCR primers suitable for both methods were selected as such that the enclosed sequence showed maximum polymorphism. PCR specificity was maximized by combining PCR with a targeted endonuclease treatment of template DNA to eliminate 16S rRNA genes of the closely related Acidovorax. DGGE allowed the grouping of PCR amplicons according to the phylogenetic grouping within the genus Variovorax. The toolbox was used to assess the Variovorax community dynamics in agricultural soil microcosms (SMs) exposed to the phenylurea herbicide linuron. Exposure to linuron resulted in an increased abundance within the Variovorax community of a subgroup previously linked to linuron degradation through cultivation-dependent isolation. SMs that were treated only once with linuron reverted to the initial community composition 70 days after linuron exposure. In contrast, SMs irrigated with linuron on a long-term base showed a significant increase in Variovorax number after 70 days. Our data support the hypothesis that the genus Variovorax is involved in linuron degradation in linuron-treated agricultural soils.

Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are considered as key players in the adaptation of bacteria to degrade organic xenobiotic recalcitrant compounds such as pesticides. We examined the prevalence and abundance of IncP-1 plasmids and IS1071, two MGEs that are frequently linked with organic xenobiotic degradation, in laboratory and field ecosystems with and without pesticide pollution history. The ecosystems included on-farm biopurification systems (BPS) processing pesticide-contaminated wastewater and soil. Comparison of IncP-1/IS1071 prevalence between pesticide-treated and nontreated soil and BPS microcosms suggested that both IncP-1 and IS1071 proliferated as a response to pesticide treatment. The increased prevalence of IncP-1 plasmids and IS1071-specific sequences in treated systems was accompanied by an increase in the capacity to mineralize the applied pesticides. Both elements were also encountered in high abundance in field BPS ecosystems that were in operation at farmyards and that showed the capacity to degrade/mineralize a wide range of chlorinated aromatics and pesticides. In contrast, IS1071 and especially IncP-1, MGE were less abundant in field ecosystems without pesticide history although some of them still showed a high IS1071 abundance. Our data suggest that MGE-containing organisms were enriched in pesticide-contaminated environments like BPS where they might contribute to spreading of catabolic genes and to pathway assembly.

On-farm biopurification systems (BPS) treat pesticide-contaminated wastewater of farms through biodegradation. Adding pesticide-primed soil has been shown to be beneficial for the establishment of pesticidedegrading populations in BPS. However, no data exist on the response of pesticide-degrading microbiota, either endogenous or introduced with pesticide-primed soil, when BPS are exposed to expected less favorable environmental conditions like cold periods, drought periods, and periods without a pesticide supply. Therefore, the response of microbiota mineralizing the herbicide linuron in BPS microcosm setups inoculated either with a linuron-primed soil or a nonprimed soil to a sequence of such less favorable conditions was examined. A period without linuron supply or a drought period reduced the size of the linuron-mineralizing community in both setups. The most severe effect was recorded for the setup containing nonprimed soil, in which stopping the linuron supply decreased the linuron degradation capacity to nondetectable levels. In both systems, linuron mineralization rapidly reestablished after conventional operation conditions were restored. A cold period and feeding with a pesticide mixture did not affect linuron mineralization. The changes in the linuron-mineralizing capacity in microcosms containing primed soil were associated with the dynamics of a particular Variovorax phylotype that previously had been associated with linuron mineralization. This study suggests that the pesticide-mineralizing community in BPS is robust in stress situations imposed by changes in environmental conditions expected to occur on farms. Moreover, it suggests that, in cases where effects do occur, recovery is rapid after restoring conventional operation conditions.The treatment of pesticide-contaminated wastewater in onfarm biopurification systems (BPS) is a low-cost and effortless solution for farmers to minimize the direct losses of pesticides to surface water (6). On-farm BPS operate as biofilters in which the pesticides are removed from the wastewater by biodegradation and sorption processes occurring in the biofilter matrix. The matrix in a BPS, designated a biomix, is composed of a mixture of soil, peat, and straw or other organic waste materials (6, 9). The addition of pesticide-primed soil to BPS has been proposed as an alternative for bioaugmentation with axenic cultures of specialized pesticide-degrading bacteria to accelerate pesticide degradation and avoid the production of toxic metabolites (7, 18). Sniegowski et al. (18) showed that bioaugmentation with a linuron-primed soil containing linuron-mineralizing microorganisms immediately resulted in the establishment of a linuron mineralization capacity in BPS microcosms. The size of the linuron-mineralizing populations in the system further increased when the microcosms were fed linuron. BPS microcosms inoculated with nonprimed soils also developed a linuron mineralization capacity but only after a much longer period of linuron supply. In the BPS microcosms contain...

f Variovorax sp. strain WDL1, which mineralizes the phenylurea herbicide linuron, expresses a novel linuron-hydrolyzing enzyme, HylA, that converts linuron to 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA). The enzyme is distinct from the linuron hydrolase LibA enzyme recently identified in other linuron-mineralizing Variovorax strains and from phenylurea-hydrolyzing enzymes (PuhA, PuhB) found in Gram-positive bacteria. The dimeric enzyme belongs to a separate family of hydrolases and differs in K m , temperature optimum, and phenylurea herbicide substrate range. Within the metal-dependent amidohydrolase superfamily, HylA and PuhA/PuhB belong to two distinct protein families, while LibA is a member of the unrelated amidase signature family. The hylA gene was identified in a draft genome sequence of strain WDL1. The involvement of hylA in linuron degradation by strain WDL1 is inferred from its absence in spontaneous WDL1 mutants defective in linuron hydrolysis and its presence in linuron-degrading Variovorax strains that lack libA. In strain WDL1, the hylA gene is combined with catabolic gene modules encoding the downstream pathways for DCA degradation, which are very similar to those present in Variovorax sp. SRS16, which contains libA. Our results show that the expansion of a DCA catabolic pathway toward linuron degradation in Variovorax can involve different but isofunctional linuron hydrolysis genes encoding proteins that belong to evolutionary unrelated hydrolase families. This may be explained by divergent evolution and the independent acquisition of the corresponding genetic modules.is a phenylurea herbicide widely used in agriculture to control germinating and newly emerging grasses and broad-leafed weeds. Biodegradation contributes largely to the dissipation of linuron in the environment. Several single bacterial strains (1, 2) and consortia (3, 4) that degrade (3, 5) or even mineralize and use linuron as the sole source of carbon, nitrogen, and energy have been reported (1-4). Bacterial degradation of linuron is initiated by amide hydrolysis of linuron to 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) and N,O-dimethylhydroxylamine (N,O-DMHA). In the case of linuron mineralization, DCA is further converted to water and carbon dioxide (Fig. 1). Bacteria belonging to the genus Variovorax appear to play a crucial role in linuron biodegradation. In linuron-degrading consortia, they are almost always responsible for at least the initial hydrolysis step in linuron degradation, and most linuron-mineralizing single-strain isolates are of the genus Variovorax (1, 2). The genetic basis of linuron degradation in the linuron-mineralizing Variovorax sp. strain SRS16 was recently elucidated (6) and involves three major catabolic gene modules. In strain SRS16, conversion of linuron to DCA is catalyzed by the hydrolase LibA, encoded by the libA gene. Further mineralization of DCA involves a multicomponent dioxygenase complex encoded by dcaQTA 1 A 2 BR, which degrades DCA to a chlorocatechol intermediate. The latter is further degraded by a modified ortho-cleava...

The abundance of libA, encoding a hydrolase that initiates linuron degradation in the linuron-metabolizing Variovorax sp. strain SRS16, was previously found to correlate well with linuron mineralization, but not in all tested environments. Recently, an alternative linuron hydrolase, HylA, was identified in Variovorax sp. strain WDL1, a strain that initiates linuron degradation in a linuron-mineralizing commensal bacterial consortium. The discovery of alternative linuron hydrolases poses questions about the respective contribution and competitive character of hylA-and libA-carrying bacteria as well as the role of linuron-mineralizing consortia versus single strains in linuron-exposed settings. Therefore, dynamics of hylA as well as dcaQ as a marker for downstream catabolic functions involved in linuron mineralization, in response to linuron treatment in agricultural soil and on-farm biopurification systems (BPS), were compared with previously reported libA dynamics. The results suggest that (i) organisms containing either libA or hylA contribute simultaneously to linuron biodegradation in the same environment, albeit to various extents, (ii) environmental linuron mineralization depends on multispecies bacterial food webs, and (iii) initiation of linuron mineralization can be governed by currently unidentified enzymes. IMPORTANCEA limited set of different isofunctional catabolic gene functions is known for the bacterial degradation of the phenylurea herbicide linuron, but the role of this redundancy in linuron degradation in environmental settings is not known. In this study, the simultaneous involvement of bacteria carrying one of two isofunctional linuron hydrolysis genes in the degradation of linuron was shown in agricultural soil and on-farm biopurification systems, as was the involvement of other bacterial populations that mineralize the downstream metabolites of linuron hydrolysis. This study illustrates the importance of the synergistic metabolism of pesticides in environmental settings.