Abstract
A marine isolate, Nesiotobacter exalbescens COD22, isolated from deep sea sediment (2100 m depth) was capable of degrading aromatic hydrocarbons. The Nesiotobacter sp. grew well in the presence of toluene at 0.1 MPa and 10 MPa at a rate of 0.24 h−1 and 0.12 h−1, respectively, in custom designed high pressure reactors. Percentage of hydrocarbon degradation was found to be 87.5% at ambient pressure and it reached 92% under high pressure condition within a short retention period of 72 h. The biodegradation of hydrocarbon was confirmed by the accumulation of dicarboxylic acid, benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol and benzaldehyde which are key intermediates in toluene catabolism. The complete genome sequence consists of 4,285,402 bp with 53% GC content and contained 3969 total coding genes. The complete genome analysis revealed unique adaptation and degradation capabilities for complex aromatic compounds, biosurfactant synthesis to facilitate hydrocarbon emulsification, advanced mechanisms for chemotaxis and presence of well developed flagellar assembly. The genomic data corroborated with the results of hydrocarbon biodegradation at high pressure growth conditions and confirmed the biotechnological potential of Nesiotobacter sp. towards bioremediation of hydrocarbon polluted deep sea environments.
Highlights
A marine isolate, Nesiotobacter exalbescens COD22, isolated from deep sea sediment (2100 m depth) was capable of degrading aromatic hydrocarbons
A strain NIOT COD22 isolated from 2100 m deep sea sediment sourced from the Bay of Bengal was capable of degrading toluene
Phylogenetic tree depicted the close relatedness of NIOT COD22 strain to Nesiotobacter exalbescens (Fig. 1)
Summary
A marine isolate, Nesiotobacter exalbescens COD22, isolated from deep sea sediment (2100 m depth) was capable of degrading aromatic hydrocarbons. The piezotolerant marine strains have the ability to function at both the low and high pressure conditions; bioremediation of toluene can be carried out using hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms having the ability to degrade hydrocarbons. Information available about such microorganisms is limited or perhaps nil to our knowledge. Not many marine strains have been studied for its ability to degrade toluene and interestingly no report is available on growth and hydrocarbon degradation pattern under ambient and elevated pressure conditions. The genetic study on the deep sea bacterium was carried out because of its ability to degrade PAHs and tolerance to elevated pressure conditions. Our study assumes great importance by the way of exploring its significant growth at elevated pressure, a distinct pathway during biodegradation process and involvement of novel genes in biotransformation of hydrocarbons
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