A study of the phototoxic effect of Benzo[a] Pyrene on bacteria

Abstract

Although Benzo[a]Pyrene (BaP) released to soils tends to bind very strongly to soil particles, however, small amounts have been shown to leach into groundwaters. This polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon is stable and can stay (and travel) in the environment for an extended period of time. Release of BaP into the environment therefore causes concern at a global environmental level. In this paper we evaluated the effect of BaP on the cell growth of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis in aerobic conditions. Irradiation of BaP increased its antibacterial activity which suggests that this process produced a singlet oxygen. This way would be able to speed up the processes of photochemical degradation of BaP.

Role of Festuca rubra and Festuca arundinacea in determinig the functional and genetic diversity of microorganisms and of the enzymatic activity in the soil polluted with diesel oil

“…The positive effect of vegetation on detoxification of soil polluted with hydrocarbons or petroleum-based products was reported by, among others, Soleimani et al (2010), Song et al (2015), and Wyszkowska et al (2015), who ascribed this effect to the mobilization of rhizosphere microbiota (Loss and Yu 2018). Also Abdel-Shafy and Mansour (2016) and Takáčová et al (2013) demonstrated many bacterial species to be capable of metabolizing various organic compounds. Bacteria and fungi were shown to transform organic compounds to less complex metabolites, and to mineralize them to inorganic compounds, H 2 O, and CO 2 under aerobic conditions or to CH 4 in the anaerobic environment (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2016).…”