Tolerance of nitrobacter to toxicity of some Nigerian crude oils

Journal Article · Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1994 · Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00197826· OSTI ID:6917422

Okpokwasili, G C; Odokuma, L O ^[1]

---

1. Univ. of Port Harcourt (Nigeria)

Crude oil spillage in aquatic systems affects thousands of aquatic species including bacteria. Some of the crude oil components are rapidly evaporated or biologically degraded. Other components continue to remain for several months and perhaps several years. Some of these components may be toxic to microorganisms, while some may stimulate microbial activity especially at low concentrations. The use of bacteria as bioassay organisms is now gaining wide acceptance. It offers a number of advantages such as ease of handling, economy of space, short life cycles and low cost. Their uses in bioassays are based on cell lysis, mutagenic properties and the inhibition of physiological processes such as respiration. Recently, a number of workers have proposed the use of Nitrobacter as a test organism. The organism has a number of advantages in toxicity testing: obligate autotrophy, its sensitivity to various toxicants and its predominance in wastewater environments are some of them . Of recent, the inhibition of bacterial enzyme biosynthesis have been suggested in bacterial assays. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of six Nigerian crude oils on the cell reproduction rate (LC, lethal concentration), cellular respiration (EC, effective concentration) and biosynthesis of enzyme responsible for nitrite oxidation (IC, inhibition concentration) in Nitrobacter. In addition, the goal was to identify which of these was the most sensitive to crude oil and which may thus be used for detecting the toxicity of these chemicals. 18 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.

• OSTI ID: 6917422
• Journal Information: Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; (United States), Vol. 52:3; ISSN 0007-4861
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
CONTAMINATION
BACTERIA
METABOLISM
ENZYMES
BIOSYNTHESIS
NIGERIA
OIL SPILLS
PETROLEUM
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOASSAY
TOLERANCE
TOXICITY
AFRICA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MICROORGANISMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PROTEINS
SYNTHESIS
020600* - Petroleum- Health & Safety
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology