Disposal of preservative - Benzoic acid by a novel biotechnological method based on aerobic bacterial strains

Abstract

A large amount of organic aromatic compounds, including benzoic acid enters the environment from the food, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. The aim of this study was to study the possibility of utilizing benzoic acid in a concentration exceeding the standard inhibitory one using new aerobic bacterial strains. From soils contaminated with aromatic compounds for a long time, 51 strains of aerobic bacteria were isolated by enrichment cultivation. All strains are able to use benzoic acid as the sole source of carbon and energy. As a result of the analysis of degradative activity, the strains Achromobacter sp. AA (GenBank MT040690) and Bacillus sp. DI (GenBank MT040691) were selected to study the biotechnological potential. The strains of Achromobacter sp. AA and Bacillus sp. DI decompose 99.1-99.7% benzoic acid in 3 days at an initial substrate concentration of 1.5 g/L. The most active decomposition of benzoic acid occurred on the first day of incubation. A high concentration of benzoic acid in excess of the standard inhibitory concentration had no toxic effect on strains of Achromobacter sp. AA and Bacillus sp. DI. The decomposition of benzoic acid occurred without the accumulation of intermediate toxic metabolites, which allows the use of these strains in biotechnology to clean the environment.