Influence of adhesion on aerobic biodegradation and bioremediation of liquid hydrocarbons

Identifying and characterizing Yarrowia keelungensis sp. nov., an oil-degrading yeast isolated from the sea surface microlayer

Ascomycetous yeast strain SM-22 was isolated from the sea-surface microlayer near the Keelung City off the northern coast of Taiwan. This strain showed a cell surface hydrophobicity higher than 90 %, moderate UV A/B resistance, and it degraded 68 % of the total petroleum hydrocarbon content of an artificial seawater medium containing 1 % (v v(-1)) diesel oil within 15 days at 25 °C. The closest phylogenetic relative of this strain is Candida oslonensis CBS 10146(T), but it differs from strain SM-22 by a 3.7 % divergence (including 18 nucleotide substitutions and 2 gaps) in the D1/D2 domain sequence of the large subunit rRNA gene. This difference clearly suggests that the strain SM-22 represents a distinct species. Strain SM-22 does not produce ascospores on common sporulation media and it can therefore be considered an anamorph of the genus Yarrowia. Thus, the name Yarrowia keelungensis sp. nov. (type strain SM-22(T) = BCRC 23110(T) = JCM 14894(T) = CBS 11062(T)) is proposed as a novel species of genus Yarrowia.

Modification of surface and enzymatic properties of Achromobacter denitrificans and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in association with diesel oil biodegradation enhanced with alkyl polyglucosides

The article concerns the influence of selected alkyl polyglucosides on biodegradation, cell surface and enzymatic properties of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Achromobacter denitrificans. The biodegradation of diesel oil depends on several factors including type and the amount of surfactant as well as bacterial genera used in the process. Nevertheless, a careful selection of these variables must be made as some bacterial strains prefer to use surfactants as their carbon source. This leads to the lowered biodegradation of diesel oil as can be observed for the tested S. maltophilia strain. Alkyl polyglucosides influenced the cell surface properties of both of the tested strains in slightly different ways. Especially for A. denitrificans, for which the hydrophobicity increased with concentration of both--Lutensol GD 70 and Glucopon 215 in diesel oil-surfactant systems. Moreover, judging by the efficiency of biodegradation, the most effective process was observed in the presence of Lutensol GD 70 (240 and 360 mg L(-1)) with biodegradation rising from 32% (without surfactant) to 68%. No such relation was observed for S. maltophilia.

Contributions of biosurfactants to natural or induced bioremediation

The number of studies dedicated to evaluating the influence of biosurfactants on bioremediation efficiency is constantly growing. Although significant progress regarding the explanation of mechanisms behind biosurfactant-induced effects could be observed, there are still many factors which are not sufficiently elucidated. This corresponds to the fact that although positive influence of biosurfactants is often reported, there are also numerous cases where no or negative effect was observed. This review summarizes the recent finding in the field of biosurfactant-amended bioremediation, focusing mainly on a critical approach towards potential limitations and causes of failure while investigating the effects of biosurfactants on the efficiency of biodegradation and phytoextraction processes. It also provides a summary of successive steps, which should be taken into consideration when designing biosurfactant-related treatment processes.

Biodegradation of alkyl derivatives of aromatic hydrocarbons and cell surface properties of a strain of Pseudomonas stutzeri

Pseudomonas stutzeri strain 9 was isolated from petroleum-contaminated soil. The main purpose of this study was to investigate how the long-term contact of this strain with diesel oil influences its surface and biodegradation properties. The experiments showed that the tested strain was able to degrade aromatic alkyl derivatives (butylbenzene, sec-butylbenzene, tert-butylbenzene and isobutylbenzene) and that the storage conditions had an influence on the cell surface properties. Also greater agglomeration of the cells was observed in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs and confirmed in particle size distribution results. The results also indicated that the addition of rhamnolipids to the hydrocarbons led to modification of the surface properties of P. stutzeri strain 9, which could be observed in the zeta potential and hydrophobicity values.

The EmhABC efflux pump decreases the efficiency of phenanthrene biodegradation by Pseudomonas fluorescens strain LP6a

Pseudomonas fluorescens strain LP6a, designated here as strain WEN (wild-type PAH catabolism, efflux positive), utilizes the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon phenanthrene as a carbon source but also extrudes it into the extracellular medium using the efflux pump EmhABC. Because phenanthrene is considered a nontoxic carbon source for P. fluorescens WEP, its energy-dependent efflux seems counter-productive. We hypothesized that the efflux of phenanthrene would decrease the efficiency of its biodegradation. Indeed, an emhB disruptant strain, wild-type PAH catabolism, efflux negative (WEN), biodegraded 44% more phenanthrene than its parent strain WEP during a 6-day incubation. To determine whether efflux affected the degree of oxidation of phenanthrene, we quantified the conversion of ¹⁴C-phenanthrene to radiolabeled polar metabolites and ¹⁴CO₂. The emhB⁻ WEN strain produced approximately twice as much ¹⁴CO₂ and radiolabeled water-soluble metabolites as the WEP strain. In contrast, the mineralization of ¹⁴C-glucose, which is not a known EmhB efflux substrate, was equivalent in both strains. An early open-ring metabolite of phenanthrene, trans-4-(1-hydroxynaphth-2-yl)-2-oxo-3-butenoic acid, also was found to be a substrate of the EmhABC pump and accumulated in the supernatant of WEP but not WEN cultures. The analogous open-ring metabolite of dibenzothiophene, a heterocyclic analog of phenanthrene, was extruded by EmhABC plus a putative alternative efflux pump, whereas the end product 3-hydroxy-2-formylbenzothiophene was not actively extruded from either WEP or WEN cells. These results indicate that the active efflux of phenanthrene and its early metabolite(s) decreases the efficiency of phenanthrene degradation by the WEP strain. This activity has implications for the bioremediation and biocatalytic transformation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocycles.