Industry and Academic biotechnological interaction: key endeavour

VERA M. N., PEDRIDO M. E., LÓPEZ C., GRAU R.

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión Anual Congreso SAIB; 2007

SAIB

Environmental pollution has stimulated the application of biotechnologies and decontamination processes that tend to reduce the ecological and social impact over communities and the ecosystem. The most promising approach is to biotreat and bioremediate the waste and the polluted environment by exploiting the tremendous catabolic capability of microorganisms.Here we report the isolation and selection of natural microbial isolates and their use for bioremediation of contaminated environments. Among the natural isolates that degraded a wide range of PAH we identified members of the genus Pseudomonas. The presence of plasmids, the production of biosurfactants (rhamnolipids, Rhl) and swarming motility were characterized for some of the isolates. These PAH-degrading microorganisms were able to grow in synthetic media using PAH as the unique energy and carbon source. Furthermore, they were able to bioremediate complex samples of petrochemical-derived hydrocarbons (more than a hundred of different PAH) in pure cultures or in presence of the indigenous effluent flora. We also found that some of these isolates are able to degrade BTX and Styrene, and form good biofilms, properties which alow them to be used in polluted gas treatment processes. These results acquire biotechnological importance for their use in the resolution of environmental pollution.