Bioremediation offers a viable alternative for the reduction of contaminants from the environment, particularly petroleum and its recalcitrant derivatives. In this study, the ability of a strain of ...Pseudomonas BUN14 to degrade crude oil, pristane and dioxin compounds, and to produce biosurfactants, was investigated. BUN14 is a halotolerant strain isolated from polluted sediment recovered from the refinery harbor on the Bizerte coast, north Tunisia and capable of producing surfactants. The strain BUN14 was assembled into 22 contigs of 4,898,053 bp with a mean GC content of 62.4%. Whole genome phylogeny and comparative genome analyses showed that strain BUN14 could be affiliated with two validly described Pseudomonas Type Strains, P. kunmingensis DSM 25974
and P. chloritidismutans AW-1
. The current study, however, revealed that the two Type Strains are probably conspecific and, given the priority of the latter, we proposed that P. kunmingensis DSM 25974 is a heteronym of P. chloritidismutans AW-1
. Using GC-FID analysis, we determined that BUN14 was able to use a range of hydrocarbons (crude oil, pristane, dibenzofuran, dibenzothiophene, naphthalene) as a sole carbon source. Genome analysis of BUN14 revealed the presence of a large repertoire of proteins (154) related to xenobiotic biodegradation and metabolism. Thus, 44 proteins were linked to the pathways for complete degradation of benzoate and naphthalene. The annotation of conserved functional domains led to the detection of putative genes encoding enzymes of the rhamnolipid biosynthesis pathway. Overall, the polyvalent hydrocarbon degradation capacity of BUN14 makes it a promising candidate for application in the bioremediation of polluted saline environments.
The treatment of textile wastewater (TWW) loaded with recalcitrant azo dyes in bioelectrochemical systems (BES) rather than in physicochemical processes is a low-cost and environmentally friendly ...process. The main objective of this study is to investigate the potential of different saline sediments collected from extreme Tunisian environments for the formation of bioanodes capable ofsimultaneous azo dyes degradation and electric current generation in synthetic (STWW) and real textile wastewaters (RTWW) characterized by a varied composition of azo dyes and a high salinity. The obtained bioanodes and anolytes were studied comparatively by electrochemical, microscopic, analytical, and molecular tools.Based on the UV–visible spectra analysis, the breakdown of the azo bond was confirmed. With RTWW, the BES achieved a chemical oxygen demand (COD) abatement rate of 85%with a current density of 2.5 A/m2. Microbial community analysis indicated that a diverse community of bacteria was active for effluent treatment coupled with energy production. At the phylum level, the electrodes were primarily colonized by proteobacteria and firmicutes, which are the two phyla most involved in bioremediation. The analysis of the microbial community also showed the abundance of Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus and Marinobacter sp. species characterized by their high metabolic capacity, tolerance to extremophilic conditions, and role in hydrocarbon degradation.
Here, we report the genomic features and the bioremediation potential of Halomonas desertis G11, a new halophilic species which uses crude oil as a carbon and energy source and displays intrinsic ...resistance to salt stress conditions (optimum growth at 10% NaCl). G11 genome (3.96 Mb) had a mean GC content of 57.82%, 3622 coding sequences, 480 subsystems and 64 RNA genes. Annotation predicted 38 genes involved in osmotic stress including the biosynthesis of osmoprotectants glycine-betaine, ectoine and osmoregulated periplasmic glucans. Genome analysis revealed also the versatility of the strain for emulsifying crude oil and metabolizing hydrocarbons. The ability of G11 to degrade crude oil components and to secrete a glycolipid biosurfactant with satisfying properties was experimentally confirmed and validated. Our results help to explain the exceptional capacity of G11 to survive at extreme desertic conditions, and highlight the metabolic features of this organism that has biotechnological and ecological potentialities.
•Crude-oil degrading polyextremophile isolation and molecular identification•Complete genome sequence analysis of Halomonas desertis G11•Petroleum biosolubilization and biodegradation under saline conditions•Identification of alkanes and phenanthrene biodegradation pathways•Rhamnolipid biosurfactant extraction and structural characterization
This study was carried out to explore the adaptive mechanisms of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, in particular the implication of fatty acids (FA) in the remodeling of membrane lipid ...composition to overcome the combined effects of long-term starvation and γ-irradiation stresses. In addition, cell surface hydrophobicity was also evaluated. The bacterial strains (control and starved) were treated with a nonlethal γ-irradiation dose of 0.5 kGy and sublethal doses of 1 kGy. Gas chromatography analysis showed that the FA composition of starved and γ-irradiated cells was modified. However starvation combined with γ-irradiation induced more modifications in the FA composition than γ-irradiation or starvation alone. Indeed, the unsaturated FA-to-saturated FA ratio decreased significantly for both strains compared with γ-irradiated cells, as main consequence of the cyclic FA formation. Our results showed that starvation, irradiation, or combined stresses significantly influenced the hydrophobicity, and this may have affected the virulence state of Salmonella Typhimurium cells. This study represents one of the few to demonstrate the modifications on bacterial membrane as a cellular response to survive to the ionizing radiation combined with long-term starvation stress.