Environmental bacteria with ability to degrade glyphosate

MASOTTI, F.; BARCAROLO, M.V.; GARAVAGLIA, B.S.; GOTTIG, N.; OTTADO, JORGELINA

Congreso; SAIB - SAMIGE Joint meeting 2021; 2021

Glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine) is a synthetic phosphonate compound characterized by a carbon‑phosphorus bond. Glyphosate based herbicides (GBH) are widely distributed in most of the economically productive lands in which crop production is mainly based on glyphosate-resistant genetically modified plants. Naturally, glyphosate is remediated by soil microorganisms, which accelerate its degradation. Technology based on microorganisms is considered highly efficient, low-cost and eco-friendly to remediate contaminated environments, denoting the importance of characterizing new bacterial strains able to degrade glyphosate to perform its bioremediation. We have isolated 13 different bacterial strains able to grow in GBH as only phosphorous source from different environmental samples from Santa Fe Province in Argentina, a highly productive region where glyphosate-resistant soybean is cultivated and GBH is widely used. These strains were identified and they belong to the genera Acinetobacter, Achromobacter, Agrobacterium, Ochrobactrum, Pantoea and Pseudomonas. Their ability to grow and consume GBH, glyphosate or the aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), another phosphonate derived from glyphosate degradation, was evaluated. The best degradation performance was observed for bacteria from the genera Achromobacter, Agrobacterium and Ochrobactrum, and mixtures of some of them resulted in even larger degradation. The capacities of these isolated strains to form biofilm and to bind to sand were evaluated and glyphosate degradation was observed in inoculated sands. Our results unveil the importance of discovering new bacterial strains for GBH degradation to develop promising tools for bioremediation processes to be used in glyphosate-contaminated environments