Utilization of aliphatic nitrile by Paracoccus sp. SKG isolated from chemical waste samples

Abstract

A bacterial strain Paracoccus sp. SKG capable of utilizing acetonitrile as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen was isolated from the chemical waste samples. The molecular phylogram generated using the complete sequence of 16S rDNA of the strain SKG showed close links to the bacteria grouped under Brucellaceae family, that belongs to the class alphaproteobacteria. Specifically, the 16S rDNA sequence of strain SKG has shown 99% similarity to Paracoccus sp. This bacterium has also shown impressive growth on aliphatic nitriles like acetonitrile, propionitrile, acrylonitrile, valeronitrile and their corresponding amides. The nitriles degradation has led to the accumulation of ammonia and respective carboxylic acids. The acetonitrile grown cells showed the release of ammonia that contributes to the increase in pH of the medium. However, glucose grown cells failed to produce ammonia, thus indicating the inducible nature of acetonitrile degrading enzymes in Paracoccus sp. SKG. Nitrile hydratase and amidase are the two key enzymes involved in the degradation of acetonitrile. Degradation of acetonitrile in Paracoccus sp. SKG follows the bi-enzymatic pathway. Further, this strain is capable of degrading acetonitrile in the presence of other organic solvents such as methanol, ethanol and dimethylformamide. Therefore, this strain is efficiently used for the treatment of HPLC waste stream containing acetonitrile in the presence of other organic solvents.