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

SILVIA PERESSUTTI; KARINA HERRERA SEITZ; KARINA POUYTE; ANDREA PEDETTA; PAOLA BABAY; MARIELA ESPINOSA; MARCELA COSTAGLIOLA; CLAUDIA STUDDERT

Viena

Simposio; 15th Biodeterioration and Biodegradation Syomposium (IBBS); 2011

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