Synergistic Effect of Yeast-Bacterial Co-Culture on Bioremediation of Oil-Contaminated Soil

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe effects of various treatments, including biostimulation, bioaugmentation with bacterial consortium, yeast, and yeast-bacterial co-culture, on oil biodegradation were systematically compared. Synergistic effects were observed on the removal of total petroleum hydrocarbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons via the amendment of co-culture, with a 48-day degradation of 56% for total petroleum hydrocarbon and 32% for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, respectively. Yeast played an important role in the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with 4–6 rings. The synergistic effect of yeast-bacteria was further evidenced by the increase of biomass and enzyme activities in soil. In comparison with the bacterial community, the yeast community was more sensitive to the inoculated cultures, which was indexed by the changes of diversity, abundance, and evenness in polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) analysis.