Cometabolism

Cometabolism is an approach to biological degradation of hazardous solvents. Using methane as the primary energy source, some microbes release enzymes that degrade the chlorinated solvents.

Cometabolism is defined as the simultaneous metabolism of two compounds, in which the degradation of the second compound (the secondary substrate) depends on the presence of the first compound (the primary substrate). For example, in the process of degrading methane, some bacteria can degrade hazardous chlorinated solvents that they would otherwise be unable to attack.