Phenanthrene degradation and strategies to improve bioavailability by microorganisms isolated from sediments and marine waters in Argentine

PERESUTTI, S; HERRERA SEITZ, K; POUYETE, K; PEDETTA, A; BABAY,P; ESPINOSA, M; COSTAGLIOLA, M; STUDDERT, C

Viena

Congreso; 15th International Symposium on Biodeterioration and Biodegradation (IBBS-15).; 2011

In the present work degradation of phenanthrene, a model PAH compound, by strains isolated from contaminated sediments and marine water was investigated. Eight strains were isolated from enrichment cultures; they belong to the genera Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas and Rhizobium as determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. All the strains were able to grow in mineral medium supplemented with phenanthrene as the sole carbon source, reaching counts of 109cell/ml. Phenanthrene disappearance was estimated by high performance liquid chromatography. Strains isolated in this work showed high PAH degradation potential, degrading between 90 and 100 percentage of the phenanthrene added to the medium (200 mg/L -1) after 12 days. In order to study mechanisms that could influence PAH degradation, emulsifying activity and chemotaxis to phenanthrene were analyzed for all the strains. Several isolates showed clear chemotactic responses towards phenanthrene, as assessed by different methods. Also, various strains displayed emulsifying activity. Both chemotaxis and biosurfactants production may contribute to the enhancement of phenantrene bioavailability, and thus to the efficiency of in situ bioremediation of contaminated sites.