“Screening of lindane removal ability by actinomycetes isolated from organochlorine pesticides contaminated site in Argentina”.

FUENTES, MARÍA S.; BENIMELI, CLAUDIA S.; CHAILE, ADRIANA P.; AMOROSO, MARÍA J.

Dalian, China

Simposio; International Biotechnology Symposium and Exhibition; 2008

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Ministry of Education of China.

SCREENING OF LINDANE REMOVAL ABILITY BY ACTINOMYCETES ISOLATED FROM ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDES CONTAMINATED SITE IN ARGENTINA Fuentes M.S1; Benimeli C.S1, Chaile A.P2 and Amoroso M.J1,3 1PROIMI-CONICET. Av. Belgrano y Pje. Caseros, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina. 2Sociedad Aguas del Tucumán. 3Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. soledadfs@hotmail.com. Lindane is an organochlorine pesticide (OPs) which have been used world-wide for public health and agricultural purposes. Most countries have prohibited its use, but some are still using for economic reasons and new sites are consequently being contaminated [1,2]. Microbial degradation is an important process for OPs removal [1,3]. Certain aquatic species of actinomycetes belonging to the genus Streptomyces has great potential as bioremediation agents for OPs [4]. The aim of this work was to investigate the ability of actinomycetes isolated from OPs contaminated soil to remove lindane from a minimal medium (MM). Strains were isolated in Starch Casein agar medium supplemented with lindane 1,4 mg L-1. The selected strains and other two strains Streptomyces M7 [4] and Streptomyces coelicolor A3, were evaluated in his ability to grow in MM with lindane 1,66 mg L-1 at 30 ºC. The growth of these strains was determinate as dry weight and residual lindane by gas chromatography. Twelve actinomycete strains able to grow in solid complex medium supplemented with lindane were selected. These strains also grow in MM supplemented with pesticide as only carbon source. Microbial growth in MM ranged between 0.05 and 0.09 mg mL-1 and lindane residual concentrations displayed 0.46 to 0.67 mg L-1 according to the strain. Because no linear relationship between consumption lindane and microbial growth was observed, we analyzed the ratio between these two parameters, for which values were found to vary between 6.0 and 9.9. It can be concluded that regional actinomycetes isolated from OPs contaminated sites are able to grow in the presence of lindane as only carbon source and remove it from the culture medium, having great potential as agents in the bioremediation of contaminated environments. References: [1] Murthy H.M., Manonmani H.K., 2007. J Hazard Mater 149: 18-25. [2] Nagata Y., Miyauchi K., Damborsky J., Manova K., Ansorgova A., Takagi M., 1997. App Environ Microbiol. 63: 3707-3710. [3] Pesce S.F., Wunderlin D.A., 2004. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation. 54: 255-260. [4] Benimeli C.S., Castro R.G., Chaile A.P., Amoroso M.J., 2006. J. Basic. Microbiol. 46: 348-357.