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Chemotactic bacteria can be attracted to electron donors they consume. In systems where donor is heterogeneously distributed, chemotaxis can lead to enhanced removal of donor relative to that achieved in the absence of chemotaxis. However, simultaneous consumption of an electron acceptor may result in the formation of an acceptor gradient to which the bacteria also respond, thus diminishing the positive effect of chemotaxis. Depletion of an electron acceptor can also reduce the rate of electron donor consumption in addition to its effect on chemotaxis. In this study, we examined the effect of oxygen on chemotaxis to naphthalene and on naphthalene consumption by Pseudomonas putida G7. The organism was able to move up an oxygen gradient when there was a naphthalene gradient in the opposite direction. In the absence of an oxygen gradient, low levels of oxygen attenuated chemotaxis to naphthalene but did not affect random motility. The rate of naphthalene consumption decreased at dissolved oxygen concentrations similar to those at which chemotaxis was attenuated. These results suggest that low dissolved oxygen concentrations can reduce naphthalene removal by P. putida G7 in systems where naphthalene is heterogeneously distributed by simultaneously attenuating chemotactic motion toward naphthalene and decreasing the rate of naphthalene degradation., (Copyright 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Bacterial chemotaxis may have a significant impact on the structure and function of bacterial communities. Quantification of chemotactic motion is necessary to identify chemoeffectors and to determine the bacterial transport parameters used in predictive models of chemotaxis. When the chemotactic bacteria consume the chemoeffector, the chemoeffector gradient to which the bacteria respond may be significantly perturbed by the consumption. Therefore, consumption of the chemoeffector can confound chemotaxis measurements if it is not accounted for. Current methods of quantifying chemotaxis use bacterial concentrations that are too high to preclude chemoeffector consumption or involve ill-defined conditions that make quantifying chemotaxis difficult. We developed a method of quantifying bacterial chemotaxis at low cell concentrations ( approximately 10(5) CFU/ml), so metabolism of the chemoeffector is minimized. The method facilitates quantification of bacterial-transport parameters by providing well-defined boundary conditions and can be used with volatile and semivolatile chemoeffectors.

Bacterial chemotaxis has the potential to increase the rate of degradation of chemoattractants, but its influence on degradation of hydrophobic attractants initially dissolved in a non-aqueous-phase liquid (NAPL) has not been examined. We studied the effect of chemotaxis by Pseudomonas putida G7 on naphthalene mass transfer and degradation in a system in which the naphthalene was dissolved in a model NAPL. Chemotaxis by wild-type P. putida G7 increased the rates of naphthalene desorption and degradation relative to rates observed with nonchemotactic and nonmotile mutant strains. While biodegradation alone influenced the rate of substrate desorption by increasing the concentration gradient against which desorption occurred, chemotaxis created an even steeper gradient as the cells accumulated near the NAPL source. The extent to which chemotaxis affected naphthalene desorption and degradation depended on the initial bacterial and naphthalene concentrations, reflecting the influences of these variables on concentration gradients and on the relative rates of mass transfer and biodegradation. The results of this study suggest that chemotaxis can substantially increase the rates of mass transfer and degradation of NAPL-associated hydrophobic pollutants.