Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-53478-w
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Hydrogen isotope labeling unravels origin of soil-bound organic contaminant residues in biodegradability testing
Author Lennartz, S.; Byrne, H.A.; Kümmel, S. ORCID logo ; Krauss, M. ORCID logo ; Nowak, K.M.
Source Titel Nature Communications
Year 2024
Department EXPO; TECH; EAC; MEB
Volume 15
Page From art. 9178
Language englisch
Topic T7 Bioeconomy
T9 Healthy Planet
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25954396
Supplements https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41467-024-53478-w/MediaObjects/41467_2024_53478_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Abstract Biodegradability testing in soil helps to identify safe synthetic organic chemicals but is still obscured by the formation of soil-bound ‘non-extractable’ residues (NERs). Present-day methodologies using radiocarbon or stable (13C, 15N) isotope labeling cannot easily differentiate soil-bound parent chemicals or transformation products (xenoNERs) from harmless soil-bound biomolecules of microbial degraders (bioNERs). Hypothesizing a minimal retention of hydrogen in biomolecules, we here apply stable hydrogen isotope – deuterium (D) – labeling to unravel the origin of NERs. Soil biodegradation tests with D- and 13C-labeled 2,4-D, glyphosate and sulfamethoxazole reveal consistently lower proportions of applied D than 13C in total NERs and in amino acids, a quantitative biomarker for bioNERs. Soil-bound D thus mostly represents xenoNERs and not bioNERs, enabling an efficient quantification of xenoNERs by just measuring the total bound D. D or tritium (T) labeling could thus improve the value of biodegradability testing results for diverse organic chemicals forming soil-bound residues.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=29798
Lennartz, S., Byrne, H.A., Kümmel, S., Krauss, M., Nowak, K.M. (2024):
Hydrogen isotope labeling unravels origin of soil-bound organic contaminant residues in biodegradability testing
Nat. Commun. 15 , art. 9178 10.1038/s41467-024-53478-w