scholarly journals Culturable bacteria from an Alpine coniferous forest site: biodegradation potential of organic polymers and pollutants

Author(s):  
Tanja Berger ◽  
Caroline Poyntner ◽  
Rosa Margesin

Abstract The potential of the culturable bacterial community from an Alpine coniferous forest site for the degradation of organic polymers and pollutants at low (5 °C) and moderate (20 °C) temperatures was evaluated. The majority of the 68 strains belonged to the phylum Proteobacteria (77%). Other strains were related to Bacteroidetes (12%), Alphaproteobacteria (4%), Actinobacteria (3%), and Firmicutes (3%). The strains were grouped into 42 different OTUs. The highest bacterial diversity was found within the phylum Bacteroidetes. All strains, except one, could grow at temperatures from 5 to 25 °C. The production of enzyme activities involved in the degradation of organic polymers present in plant litter (carboxymethyl cellulose, microgranular cellulose, xylan, polygalacturonic acid) was almost comparable at 5 °C (68%) and 20 °C (63%). Utilizers of lignin compounds (lignosulfonic acid, lignin alkali) as sole carbon source were found to a higher extent at 20 °C (57%) than at 5 °C (24%), but the relative fractions among positively tested strains utilizing these compounds were almost identical at the two temperatures. Similar results were noted for utilizers of organic pollutants (n-hexadecane, diesel oil, phenol, glyphosate) as sole carbon source. More than two-thirds showed constitutively expressed catechol-1,2-dioxygenase activity both at 5 °C (74%) and 20 °C (66%). Complete phenol (2.5 mmol/L) degradation by strain Paraburkholderia aromaticivorans AR20-38 was demonstrated at 0–30 °C, amounts up to 7.5 mmol/L phenol were fully degraded at 10–30 °C. These results are useful to better understand the effect of changing temperatures on microorganisms involved in litter degradation and nutrient turnover in Alpine forest soils.

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (38) ◽  
pp. E5253-E5260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Keiluweit ◽  
Peter Nico ◽  
Mark E. Harmon ◽  
Jingdong Mao ◽  
Jennifer Pett-Ridge ◽  
...  

Litter decomposition is a keystone ecosystem process impacting nutrient cycling and productivity, soil properties, and the terrestrial carbon (C) balance, but the factors regulating decomposition rate are still poorly understood. Traditional models assume that the rate is controlled by litter quality, relying on parameters such as lignin content as predictors. However, a strong correlation has been observed between the manganese (Mn) content of litter and decomposition rates across a variety of forest ecosystems. Here, we show that long-term litter decomposition in forest ecosystems is tightly coupled to Mn redox cycling. Over 7 years of litter decomposition, microbial transformation of litter was paralleled by variations in Mn oxidation state and concentration. A detailed chemical imaging analysis of the litter revealed that fungi recruit and redistribute unreactive Mn2+provided by fresh plant litter to produce oxidative Mn3+species at sites of active decay, with Mn eventually accumulating as insoluble Mn3+/4+oxides. Formation of reactive Mn3+species coincided with the generation of aromatic oxidation products, providing direct proof of the previously posited role of Mn3+-based oxidizers in the breakdown of litter. Our results suggest that the litter-decomposing machinery at our coniferous forest site depends on the ability of plants and microbes to supply, accumulate, and regenerate short-lived Mn3+species in the litter layer. This observation indicates that biogeochemical constraints on bioavailability, mobility, and reactivity of Mn in the plant–soil system may have a profound impact on litter decomposition rates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1920
Author(s):  
Caroline Poyntner ◽  
Andrea Kutzner ◽  
Rosa Margesin

Microbiota from Alpine forest soils are key players in carbon cycling, which can be greatly affected by climate change. The aim of this study was to evaluate the degradation potential of culturable bacterial strains isolated from an alpine deciduous forest site. Fifty-five strains were studied with regard to their phylogenetic position, growth temperature range and degradation potential for organic compounds (microtiter scale screening for lignin sulfonic acid, catechol, phenol, bisphenol A) at low (5 °C) and moderate (20 °C) temperature. Additionally, the presence of putative catabolic genes (catechol-1,2-dioxygenase, multicomponent phenol hydroxylase, protocatechuate-3,4-dioxygenase) involved in the degradation of these organic compounds was determined through PCR. The results show the importance of the Proteobacteria phylum as its representatives did show good capabilities for biodegradation and good growth at −5 °C. Overall, 82% of strains were able to use at least one of the tested organic compounds as their sole carbon source. The presence of putative catabolic genes could be shown over a broad range of strains and in relation to their degradation abilities. Subsequently performed gene sequencing indicated horizontal gene transfer for catechol-1,2-dioxygenase and protocatechuate-3,4-dioxygenase. The results show the great benefit of combining molecular and culture-based techniques.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Abdulrahman Abdulhamid Arabo ◽  
Raji Arabi Bamanga ◽  
Mujiburrahman Fadilu ◽  
Musa Abubakar ◽  
Fatima Abdullahi Shehu ◽  
...  

This study aimed to isolate and identify biosurfactant producing and diesel alkanes degrading bacteria. For this reason, bacteria isolated from the diesel contaminated site were screened for their potential to produce biosurfactants and degrade diesel alkanes. Primary selection of diesel degraders was carried out by using conventional enrichment culture technique where 12 bacterial strains were isolated based on their ability to grow on minimal media supplemented with diesel as sole carbon source, which was followed by qualitative screening methods for potential biosurfactant production. Isolate B11 was the only candidate that shows positive signs for drop collapse, foaming, haemolytic test, oil displacement of more than 22 ± 0.05 mm, and emulsification (E24) of 14 ± 0.30%. The effect of various culture parameters (incubation time, diesel concentration, nitrogen source, pH and temperature) on biodegradation of diesel was evaluated. The optimum incubation time was confirmed to be 120 days for isolates B11, the optimum PH was confirmed as 8.0 for the isolate, Similarly, the optimum temperature was confirmed as 35oC. In addition, diesel oil was used as the sole carbon source for the isolates. The favourable diesel concentration was 12.5 % (v/v) for the isolate. The isolate has shown degradative ability towards Tridecane (C13), dodecane, 2, 6, 10-trimethyl- (C15), Tetradecane (C14), 2,6,10-Trimethyltridecane (C16), Pentadecane (C15). It degraded between 0.27% - 9.65% individual diesel oil alkanes. The strain has exhibited the potential of degrading diesel oil n-alkanes and was identified as Alcaligenes species strain B11 (MZ027604) using the 16S rRNA sequencing.


Author(s):  
Vivek Kumar Ranjan ◽  
Shriparna Mukherjee ◽  
Subarna Thakur ◽  
Krutika Gupta ◽  
Ranadhir Chakraborty

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Guiwen Yan ◽  
Mingquan An ◽  
Jieli Liu ◽  
Houming Zhang ◽  
...  

1975 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meryl Polkinghorne ◽  
M. J. Hynes

SUMMARYWild-type strains ofAspergillus nidulansgrow poorly onL-histidine as a sole nitrogen source. The synthesis of the enzyme histidase (EC. 4.3.1.3) appears to be a limiting factor in the growth of the wild type, as strains carrying the mutantareA102 allele have elevated histidase levels and grow strongly on histidine as a sole nitrogen source.L-Histidine is an extremely weak sole carbon source for all strains.Ammonium repression has an important role in the regulation of histidase synthesis and the relief of ammonium repression is dependent on the availability of a good carbon source. The level of histidase synthesis does not respond to the addition of exogenous substrate.Mutants carrying lesions in thesarA orsarB loci (suppressor ofareA102) have been isolated. The growth properties of these mutants on histidine as a sole nitrogen source correlate with the levels of histidase synthesized. Mutation at thesarA andsarB loci also reduces the utilization of a number of other nitrogen sources. The data suggest that these two genes may code for regulatory products involved in nitrogen catabolism. No histidase structural gene mutants were identified and possible explanations of this are discussed.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1111-1121
Author(s):  
S B Ellis ◽  
P F Brust ◽  
P J Koutz ◽  
A F Waters ◽  
M M Harpold ◽  
...  

The oxidation of methanol follows a well-defined pathway and is similar for several methylotrophic yeasts. The use of methanol as the sole carbon source for the growth of Pichia pastoris stimulates the expression of a family of genes. Three methanol-responsive genes have been isolated; cDNA copies have been made from mRNAs of these genes, and the protein products from in vitro translations have been examined. The identification of alcohol oxidase as one of the cloned, methanol-regulated genes has been made by enzymatic, immunological, and sequence analyses. Methanol-regulated expression of each of these three isolated genes can be demonstrated to occur at the level of transcription. Finally, DNA subfragments of two of the methanol-responsive genomic clones from P. pastoris have been isolated and tentatively identified as containing the control regions involved in methanol regulation.


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