Abstract
Environmental contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons is of concern due to the carcinogenicity and neurotoxicity of these compounds. Successful bioremediation of organic contaminants requires bacterial populations with degradative capacity for these contaminants. Through successive enrichment of microorganisms from a petroleum-contaminated soil using diesel fuel as the sole carbon and energy source, we successfully isolated a bacterial consortium that can degrade diesel fuel hydrocarbons. Metagenome analysis revealed the specific roles of different microbial populations involved in the degradation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), and the metabolic pathways involved in these reactions. One hundred and five putative coding DNA sequences were identified as responsible for both the activation of BTEX and central metabolism (ring-cleavage) of catechol and alkylcatechols during BTEX degradation. The majority of the Coding DNA sequences (CDSs) were affiliated to Acidocella, which was also the dominant bacterial genus in the consortium. The inoculation of diesel fuel contaminated soils with the consortium resulted in approximately 70% hydrocarbon biodegradation, indicating the potential of the consortium for environmental remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons.
Highlights
Industrialization and increasing demand for energy have led to continuous exploitation of fossil fuels
The successive enrichments of the polluted soil sequencing resulted in 18,575by bacterial sequences belonging to sample in gene a consortium that is dominated
At the level of genera, Acidocella is the most dominant sample resulted in a consortium thatrepresented is dominated by Alphaproteobacteria and Acibacterial genus
Summary
Industrialization and increasing demand for energy have led to continuous exploitation of fossil fuels This has resulted in anthropogenic contamination of many aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The stability of aromatic hydrocarbons is often responsible for their resistance to biodegradation. This results in their bioaccumulation and biomagnification along trophic levels of organisms. Oxygen is both the terminal electron acceptor and a necessary reactant for activating hydrocarbons by converting them into oxygenated intermediates [9]. This process is orchestrated by monooxygenases and dioxygenases that incorporate oxygen atoms, forming alcohols. Further oxidation results in the formation of oxoadipate and aldehydes, with the former being metabolised via succinylCoA and the latter via acetyl-CoA and propanoyl-CoA [11,12]
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