Index >> Biodegradation of Pesticides and Pollutants >> Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethene DDT

Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethene DDT
This well known organochlorine type of insecticide is in existence for about 100 years and won the Nobel prize for medicine in favour of Dr. Paul Muller of Germany in 1948. The insecticide is known as diphenyl aliphatic with two phenyl rings attached. The DDT is converted to DDE through dehalogenation by an enzyme dehydrochlorinase as shown below by several bacteria such as Achromobacter, Aerobacter, Agrobacterium, Bacillus, Clostridium, Corynebacterium, Escherichia, Erwinia, Kurthia, Pseudomonas and Streptococcus.