New insights into the anaerobic microbial degradation of decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209) in coastal marine sediments

Abstract

Severe contamination of decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209, an emerging persistent organic pollutant) in coastal marine sediments has posed a serious threat to the marine ecosystems. Anaerobic microbial degradation can affect the toxicity and environmental fate of BDE-209 in anoxic marine sediments. However, little is known about the anaerobic microbial degradation of BDE-209 in anoxic marine/coastal sediments. In this study, the anaerobic degradation of BDE-209 in microcosms containing coastal marine sediments from a contaminated bay located in Southern China was investigated. It was observed that over 70% of the BDE-209 (5 μmol) added to the anaerobic sediment microcosms disappeared after 90-day of incubation. Thirty-five debrominated products (tetra- to nonaBDEs) were identified by GC-MS. Remarkably, a majority of these products (i.e. 20 products, including BDE-52, -92, −101, −102, −103, −133, −144, −146, −150, −161, −171, −172, −175, −177, −178, −180, −182, −188, −193, −199) have not been previously reported in the literature on the anaerobic microbial degradation of BDE-209 in sediments. There was no preferential debromination among ortho-, meta-, and para-bromines on BDE-209 and higher-brominated diphenyl ethers were the predominant debromination products. High-throughput sequencing revealed that the relative abundances of 9 microbial genera in the sediment microcosms increased as the anaerobic degradation of BDE-209 progressed, indicating their involvements in the degradation process. Taken together, our findings provided new insights into the anaerobic microbial degradation of BDE-209 in anoxic marine sediments.