Abstract
Microbial remediation of environmental contaminants such as spilled and used petroleum products is an increasing auspicious technique, owing to its associated low-cost and eco-friendly outcomes compared to other methods. For this purpose, recovered bacteria isolates from contaminated soils in automobile workshops were screened for phytase activity and hydrocarbon biodegradative ability. Presumptive bacterium with inherently high phytase activity and biodegradative potential was further characterized using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Soil total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was determined using gas chromatographic technique (GC-FID). The identities of the isolates recovered from the samples include; <i>Bacillus subtilis, B. licheniformis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium variabilis, Micrococcus luteus and Proteus vulgaris</i>. Of all the isolates, <i>P. aeruginosa</i> had the highest phytase activity after 48 h of incubation whereas, <i>P. vulgaris</i> recorded the least phytase activity. <i>E. coli</i> and <i>B. subtilis</i> showed active phytase activity at pH 5.0 and 40°C. While <i>P. aeruginosa</i> exhibited proficient degrading ability on crude oil and spent engine oil at all days of incubation, <i>E. coli</i> and <i>C. variabilis</i> showed the most inaptitude. The 16S rRNA gene analysis shows that the isolate obtained from the automobile workshop is of the genus <i>P. aeruginosa</i> with reference to ATCC 27853. The TPH of the contaminated soils ranged from 545,168 to 856,328 Mg/kg. This study reveals the degradative potential of <i>P. aeruginosa</i> as suitable candidate in bioremediation of crude oil contaminated sites.
Highlights
Crude oil contamination of soil and water have been a major threat to human and ecosystem through the transfer of toxic organic materials including saturated and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the environment [1]
Biodegradation involves the use of metabolic ability of microorganisms to transform or mineralize organic contaminants into less harmful substances, many of which are integrated into natural biogeochemical cycles [2, 3]
The crude oil sample (Bonny light), used engine, Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology 2018; 4(5): 115-123 contaminated and non-contaminated soil sample were subjected to total hydrocarbon analysis using gas chromatographic (GC) method to determine total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) content of the crude oil and engine oil sample according to the method of [22]
Summary
Crude oil contamination of soil and water have been a major threat to human and ecosystem through the transfer of toxic organic materials including saturated and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the environment [1]. Petroleum-degrading microorganisms are widely distributed in both soil and water, but not in sufficient numbers at a given polluted site. In such cases, it may be helpful to inoculate the polluted area with highly efficient petroleum-degrading microbial strains in a process called bioaugmentation [8]. Spent Engine Oils Polluted-Soils have more alternative uses than other known sources because of its properties such as proteolysis resistance, thermal stability, resistance against metal ions, commercial substrate specificity and high catalytic activity [11]. This study was designed to isolate and optimize culture conditions for phytaseproducing bacterial isolates with biodegradative potentials
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