Isolation of Dimethyl Sulfone-Degrading Microorganisms and Application to Odorless Degradation of Dimethyl Sulfoxide

Abstract

With the objective of developing an odorless biodegradation process for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), Hyphomicrobium sp. WU-OM3 was isolated. During the cultivation of strain WU-OM3 cells with 20 mM dimethyl sulfone (DMSO 2 ) as the sole carbon source, DMSO 2 was completely consumed within 48 h and sulfate ion accumulated in the culture broth. Methanesulfonate was also detected as an intermediate of DMSO 2 degradation. By combining the DMSO-oxidizing microorganism and strain WU-OM3 cells, 0.64 mM (50 mg/ l ) DMSO was degraded to sulfate ion with 80% molar conversion ratio.