AUTHOR=Chaussonnerie Sébastien , Saaidi Pierre-Loïc , Ugarte Edgardo , Barbance Agnès , Fossey Aurélie , Barbe Valérie , Gyapay Gabor , Brüls Thomas , Chevallier Marion , Couturat Loïc , Fouteau Stéphanie , Muselet Delphine , Pateau Emilie , Cohen Georges N. , Fonknechten Nuria , Weissenbach Jean , Le Paslier Denis 

TITLE=Microbial Degradation of a Recalcitrant Pesticide: Chlordecone

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.02025

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2016.02025

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Chlordecone (Kepone®) is a synthetic organochlorine insecticide (C<sub>10</sub>Cl<sub>10</sub>O) used worldwide mostly during the 1970 and 1980s. Its intensive application in the French West Indies to control the banana black weevil <italic>Cosmopolites sordidus</italic> led to a massive environmental pollution. Persistence of chlordecone in soils and water for numerous decades even centuries causes global public health and socio-economic concerns. In order to investigate the biodegradability of chlordecone, microbial enrichment cultures from soils contaminated by chlordecone or other organochlorines and from sludge of a wastewater treatment plant have been conducted. Different experimental procedures including original microcosms were carried out anaerobically over long periods of time. GC-MS monitoring resulted in the detection of chlorinated derivatives in several cultures, consistent with chlordecone biotransformation. More interestingly, disappearance of chlordecone (50 μg/mL) in two bacterial consortia was concomitant with the accumulation of a major metabolite of formula C<sub>9</sub>Cl<sub>5</sub>H<sub>3</sub> (named B1) as well as two minor metabolites C<sub>10</sub>Cl<sub>9</sub>HO (named A1) and C<sub>9</sub>Cl<sub>4</sub>H<sub>4</sub> (named B3). Finally, we report the isolation and the complete genomic sequences of two new <italic>Citrobacter</italic> isolates, closely related to <italic>Citrobacter amalonaticus</italic>, and that were capable of reproducing chlordecone transformation. Further characterization of these <italic>Citrobacter</italic> strains should yield deeper insights into the mechanisms involved in this transformation process.</p>