Biodegradation of Organochlorine Pesticides by <i>Paenibacillus</i> sp. Strain

Abstract

The exposure of humans to different concentrations of pesticides is a serious phenomenon. Some organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have been found to be mutinous; they remain in the environment for a long time. This study monitors OCP (17 compounds) concentrations in three agricultural drainage water sources never been monitored for OCP residues, at Kafr El-Sheikh governorate, Egypt. Numerous bacteria were found to significantly degrade different pesticide compounds. Findings of this study included isolation and identification of Paenibacillus sp. strain 10 for the remarkable capability of OCP degradation. Paenibacillus sp. with active gradients in broth culture, incubated for 2 weeks, showed great efficiency in biodegradation of OCPs, ranging between 24.4% and 98% (and sometimes as high as 100%). Paenibacillus sp. could be further scaled up to be introduced as a cleanup process for contaminated matrices in the area under study and other polluted sites.