International Journal of Advanced Research and Development

Authors
Sachitesh Devrukhkar, Amruta Kothare, Dipit Kochar, Arjumanara Surti

Abstract
Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), a family of 209 aromatic compounds (congeners) containing 1 to 10 chlorines, are toxic, recalcitrant and ubiquitously distributed contaminants. Aroclors are trade name given to commercial mixtures of PCB’s. In the current study, Pseudomonas mendocina strain CL-10.4. Was a reported potential PCB degrader was analysed for Aroclor degradation? It was enriched using Mineral Salt Medium supplemented with inducer benzoate. For degradation studies, above isolate was inoculated in medium with biphenyl and Aroclor 1242 to check its degrading/ catabolizing ability which was confirmed by GC-MS analysis. The results obtained from GC-MS analysis proved that the above isolate was capable of completely metabolizing Aroclors into simple degradation products like acetic acid and galactose. The highlight of this study remains complete aerobic degradation of Aroclors which usually occurs under anaerobiosis.