Bacterial degradation of high molecular-weight polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:367475

Ye, D; Siddiqi, A; Kumar, S; Sikka, H C ^[1]

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1. State Univ. of New York, Buffalo, NY (United States)

The ability of Pseudomonas paucimobilis, strain EPA 505 (a soil bacterium capable of utilizing fluoranthene as the sole source of carbon and energy for growth) to metabolize a variety of high molecular-weight polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was investigated. After 16 hours of incubation with 10 ppm of a PAH, a resting cell suspension (1 mg wet cells/ml) of P. paucimobilis grown on fluoranthene degraded 80.0, 72.9, 31.5, 33.3, 12.5, and 7.8% of pyrene, benz[a]anthracene (B[a]A), chrysene, benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), benzo[b]fluoranthene (B[b]F), and dibenz[a,h]anthracene (DB[a,h]A), respectively. No degradation of dibenz[a,1]pyrene was detected under these conditions. Studies with [7-{sup 14}C]B[a]P and [5,6,11,12-{sup 14}C]chrysene showed that after 48 hours of incubation, the cells degraded nearly 28 and 42% of {sup 14}C-B[a]P and {sup 14}C-chrysene to {sup 14} C0{sub 2}, respectively, suggesting that the bacterium is able to metabolize B[a]P and chrysene via ring cleavage. No evolution of {sup 14}CO{sub 2} was detected from cultures incubated with [4,5,9,10{sup 14}C]pyrene or [1,2,3,4,4a,4bU-{sup 14}C]dibenz[a,1]pyrene. The degradation of B[a]P with P. paucimobilis significantly reduced the mutagenic activity associated with the hydrocarbon. The addition of 5 ppm of B[a]A, chrysene, fluoranthene, or DB[a,h]A to the incubation medium containing 5 ppm B[a]P had no effect on the degradation of B[a]P by P. paucimobilis. The data suggest that P. paucimobilis, strain EPA 505 may be useful for remediation of PAH-contaminated sites.

• OSTI ID: 367475
• Report Number(s): CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BIODEGRADATION
CARBON 14 COMPOUNDS
GROWTH
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
PSEUDOMONAS
REMEDIAL ACTION
SOILS
TRACER TECHNIQUES