scholarly journals Degradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons by Moderately Halophilic Bacteria from Luzon Salt Beds

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (19) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn L. Nanca ◽  
Kimberly D. Neri ◽  
Anna Christina R. Ngo ◽  
Reuel M. Bennett ◽  
Gina R. Dedeles

Background. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are common environmental contaminants which are highly toxic due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. They are released into the environment by incomplete combustion of solid and liquid fuels, accidental spillage of oils and seepage from industrial activities. One of the promising processes mitigating PAHs is through biodegradation. However, conventional microbiological treatment processes do not function well at high salt concentrations. Hence, utilization of halophilic bacteria should be considered. Objectives. This study aimed to assess the ability of halophilic bacteria isolated from local salt beds in Pangasinan and Cavite, the Philippines, to degrade PAHs pyrene, fluorene and fluoranthene. Methods. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-tolerant halophilic bacteria collected from two sampling sites were phenotypically characterized, molecularly identified and tested to determine their potential to degrade the PAHs pyrene, fluorene and fluoranthene at a hypersaline condition. Best PAH degraders were then assayed to identify the optimal degradation using such parameters as pH, temperature and PAH concentration. Testing for enzyme degradation was also done to determine their baseline information. Extraction and analysis of degraded PAHs were performed using centrifugation and UV-vis spectrophotometry. Results. Twelve isolates from both collection sites tolerated and grew in culture with selected PAHs. These were identified into four genera (Halobacillus, Halomonas, Chromohalobacter, and Pontibacillus). Selected best isolates in a series of biodegradation assays with the above-mentioned parameters were Halobacillus B (Collection of Microbial Strains (CMS) 1802) (=trueperi) (Gram-positive) for pyrene and fluoranthene, and Halomonas A (CMS 1901) (Gram-negative) for fluorene. Degrader biomass and PAH degradation were invariably negatively correlated. Qualitative tests with and without peptone as a nitrogen source implied enzymatic degradation. Discussion. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons utilized by these halophilic bacteria served as a sole source of carbon and energy. Implications of biodegradation of the two best isolates show that high molecular weight (HMW) (4-ring) pyrene tends to be degraded better by Gram-positive bacteria and low molecular weight (3-ring) fluorene by Gram-negative degraders. Conclusions. Halophilic bacteria constitute an untapped natural resource for biotechnology in the Philippines. The present study demonstrated their potential use in bioremediation of recalcitrant hydrocarbons in the environment. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Di Gregorio ◽  
Alessandro Gentini ◽  
Giovanna Siracusa ◽  
Simone Becarelli ◽  
Hassan Azaizeh ◽  
...  

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large group of organic contaminants causing hazards to organisms including humans. The objective of the study was to validate the vegetation of dredged sediments withPhragmites australisas an exploitable biostimulation approach to accelerate the depletion of PAHs in nitrogen spiked sediments. Vegetation withPhragmites australisresulted in being an efficient biostimulation approach for the depletion of an aged PAHs contamination (229.67±15.56 μg PAHs/g dry weight of sediment) in dredged sediments.Phragmites australisaccelerated the oxidation of the PAHs by rhizodegradation. The phytobased approach resulted in 58.47% of PAHs depletion. The effects of the treatment have been analyzed in terms of both contaminant depletion and changes in relative abundance of the metabolically active Gram positive and Gram negative PAHs degraders. The metabolically active degraders were quantified both in the sediments and in the root endospheric microbial community. Quantitative real-time PCR reactions have been performed on the retrotranscribed transcripts encoding the Gram positive and Gram negative largeαsubunit (RHDα) of the aromatic ring hydroxylating dioxygenases. The Gram positive degraders resulted in being selectively favored by vegetation withPhragmites australisand mandatory for the depletion of the six ring condensed indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene.


Author(s):  
Sultan Hassan Alamri ◽  
Nadeem Ali ◽  
Hussain Mohammed Salem Ali Albar ◽  
Muhammad Imtiaz Rashid ◽  
Nisreen Rajeh ◽  
...  

To control the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Saudi Arabia’s government imposed a strict lockdown during March–July 2020. As a result, the public was confined to indoors, and most of their daily activities were happening in their indoor places, which might have resulted in lower indoor environment quality. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed in household dust (n = 40) collected from different residential districts of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the lockdown period. PAHs’ levels were two folds higher than the previously reported PAHs in indoor dust from this region. We detected low molecular weight (LMW) with two to four aromatic ring PAHs in all the samples with a significant contribution from Phenanthrene (Phe), present at an average concentration of 1590 ng/g of dust. Although high molecular weight (HMW) (5–6 aromatic ring) PAHs were detected at lower concentrations than LMW PAHs, however, they contributed >90% in the carcinogenic index of PAHs. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of specific PAHs was above the reference dose (RfD) for young children in high-end exposure and the calculated Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) was >1.00 × 10−4 for both Saudi adults and young children. The study highlighted that indoor pollution has increased significantly during lockdown due to the increased indoor activities and inversely affect human health. This study also warrants to conduct more studies involving different chemicals to understand the indoor environment quality during strict lockdown conditions.


Author(s):  
Laura DOBOS ◽  
Carmen PUIA

Crude oil is a highly complex mixture of hydrocarbons amounting to hundreds of individual compounds with different chemical structure and molecular weight plus a series of lower molecular weight compounds other than hydrocarbons (phenols, thiols, naphthenic acids, heterocyclic compounds with N (pyridines, pyrrole, indole, s.o.) compounds S (alkyl thiols, thiophene, etc.) (Zarnea, 1994). Mineral oil and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) creates larger environmental problems. They are considered particularly dangerous. In this regard, EPA Agency from U.S.A. includes a number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons under 16 priority pollutants, which require special attention. IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) has identified 15 types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons including six of the 16 types of PAHs, identifiable by the USEPA as having carcinogenic properties (Chauhan Archana et al., 2008).


Atmosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suwubinuer Rekefu ◽  
Dilinuer Talifu ◽  
Bo Gao ◽  
Yusan Turap ◽  
Mailikezhati Maihemuti ◽  
...  

PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 samples were simultaneously collected in Urumqi from January to December 2011, and 14 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined. The mean concentrations of total PAHs in PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 were 20.90~844.22 ng m−3 and 19.65~176.5 ng m−3 respectively, with the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. Above 80% of PAHs were enriched in PM2.5, which showed remarkable seasonal variations compared to coarse particles. High molecular weight (HMW) PAHs were predominant in PM2.5 (46.61~85.13%), whereas the proportions of lower molecular weight (LMW) and HMW PAHs in PM2.5–10 showed a decreasing and an increasing trend, respectively, from spring to winter. The estimated concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene equivalent carcinogenic potency (BaPeq) in PM2.5 (10.49~84.52 ng m−3) were higher than that of in PM2.5–10 (1.15~13.33 ng m−3) except in summer. The estimated value of inhalation cancer risk in PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 were 1.63 × 10−4~7.35 × 10−3 and 9.94 × 10−5~1.16 × 10−3, respectively, far exceeding the health-based guideline level of 10−4. Diagnostic ratios and positive matrix factorization results demonstrated that PAHs in PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 were from similar sources, such as coal combustion, biomass burning, coking, and petroleum combustion, respectively. Coal combustion was the most important source for PAHs both in PM2.5 and PM2.5–10, accounting for 54.20% and 50.29%, respectively.


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