Culture-dependent and culture-independent characterization of potentially functional biphenyl-degrading bacterial community in response to extracellular organic matter from Micrococcus luteus.

Biphenyl (BP)-degrading bacteria were identified to degrade various polychlorinated BP (PCB) congers in long-term PCB-contaminated sites. Exploring BP-degrading capability of potentially useful bacteria was performed for enhancing PCB bioremediation. In the present study, the bacterial composition of the PCB-contaminated sediment sample was first investigated.