Method for detecting dehalogenation of halogenated aromatic compounds

A method for screening a test composition for the presence of microorganisms capable of anaerobically dechlorinating polychlorinated aromatic compounds, which comprises:

• selecting, as a substrate, a polychlorinated aromatic compound which is not susceptible to degradation by the 2,3-dioxygenase pathway but which, when anaerobically dechlorinated, affords products which are susceptible to such dechlorination;
• anaerobically contacting said substrate with said test composition in a first contact step;
• aerobically contacting the product of said first contact step with an indicator microorganism selected from the group consisting of E. coli strain FM4560 and Pseudomonas sp. strain FM206 which encodes the first three steps but not the hydrase enzyme step of the 2,3-dioxygenase route, in a second contact step;
• and
• screening the product of said second step for the presence of colored metabolite compounds indicative of the presence in the product of said first contact step of polychlorinated aromatic compounds susceptible to the 2,3-dioxygenase pathway.