Reductive dechlorination of methoxychlor and DDT by human intestinal bacterium Eubacterium limosum under anaerobic conditions

Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2008 Apr;54(3):406-11. doi: 10.1007/s00244-007-9044-y. Epub 2007 Sep 29.

Abstract

Methoxychlor [1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-methoxyphenyl)ethane], a substitute for 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT), is a compound of environmental concern because of potential long-term health risks related to its endocrine-disrupting and carcinogenic potency. In order to determine the metabolic fate of methoxychlor and DDT in the human intestinal gut, Eubacterium limosum (ATCC 8486), a strict anaerobe isolated from the human intestine that is capable of O-demethylation toward O-methylated isoflavones, was used as a model intestinal microbial organism. Under anaerobic incubation conditions, E. limosum completely transformed methoxychlor and DDT in 16 days. Based on gas chromatography-mass chromatography analyses, the metabolites produced from methoxychlor and DDT by E. limosum were confirmed to be 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-methoxyphenyl)ethane (methoxydichlor) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDD), respectively. This study suggests that E. limosum in the human intestinal gut might be a participant in the reductive dechlorination of methoxychlor to the more antiandrogenic active methoxydichlor.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anaerobiosis
  • Biotransformation
  • Chlorine / metabolism
  • DDT / metabolism*
  • Environmental Pollutants / metabolism*
  • Eubacterium / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Insecticides / metabolism*
  • Intestines / microbiology*
  • Methoxychlor / metabolism*
  • Oxidation-Reduction

Substances

  • Environmental Pollutants
  • Insecticides
  • Chlorine
  • DDT
  • Methoxychlor