The aerobic dechlorination of chlordecone by bacteria from agricultural organochlorine-used soil of Cameroon South-West region is reported. Selection of microorganism strains having great affinity and/or resistant to chlordecone has been carried out. The effects of physicochemical factors (pH, chlordecone amount, incubation time and temperature) on bacteria growth and the biodegradation of chlordecone were investigated. A Bacillus strain has been isolated and was able to resist and grow with chlordecone as sole carbon source. Among physicochemical parameters studied, chlordecone amount had not significant effect on the Bacillus growth in synthetic medium. Free chlorine obtained after incubation of Bacillus sp in the presence of 1 µg/mL of chlordecone as sole carbon source showed a maximum released after 10 days, equivalent to dechlorination of 19.5% of total chlorine in the synthetic medium. This report is the first relative to chlordecone dechlorination under aerobic conditions by Bacillus strain from African ecosystems.
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