Isolation and characterization of a fluoranthene-utilizing strain of Pseudomonas paucimobilis

Abstract

A soil bacterium capable of utilizing fluoranthene as the sole source of carbon and energy for growth was purified from a seven-member bacterial community previously isolated from a creosote waste site for its ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. By standard bacteriological methods, this bacterium was characterized taxonomically as a strain of Pseudomonas paucimobilis and was designated strain EPA505. Utilization of fluoranthene by strain EPA505 was demonstrated by increase in bacterial biomass, decrease in aqueous fluoranthene concentration, and transient formation of transformation products in liquid cultures where fluoranthene was supplied as the sole carbon source. Resting cells grown in complex medium showed activity toward anthraquinone, benzo[b]fluorene, biphenyl, chrysene, and pyrene as demonstrated by the disappearance of parent compounds or changes in their UV absorption spectra. Fluoranthene-grown resting cells were active against these compounds as well as 2,3-dimethylnaphthalene, anthracene, fluoranthene, fluorene, naphthalene, and phenanthrene. These studies demonstrate that organic compounds not previously reported to serve as growth substrates can be utilized by axenic cultures of microorganisms. Such organisms may possess novel degradative systems that are active toward other compounds whose biological degradation has been limited because of inherent structural considerations or because of low aqueous solubility.

Glutathione transferases in bacteria

“…Bacterial GSTs are also involved in the degradation of several monocyclic aromatic compounds such as toluene, xylenes, phenols and atrazine [72]. They also take part in the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a class of hazardous chemicals to both environmental and human health [21,[73][74][75][76][77][78].…”

Advances in the field of high‐molecular‐weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon biodegradation by bacteria

“…Research in regard to the biotransformation of the fourring peri-condensed PAHs pyrene and fluoranthene by different genera of bacteria has been significantly advanced. Biodegradation pathways for these PAHs have been further developed since the first reports of metabolites and biodegradation pathways for these compounds were published for actinomycetes and Gram-negative organisms (Heitkamp et al, 1988b;Mueller et al, 1990;Weissenfels et al, 1991;Cerniglia, 1992). In the last 10 years many new bacteria that possess HMW PAH biodegradation capabilities for pyrene and fluoranthene have been isolated from different environments throughout the world and the characteristics of these bacteria have been examined to various degrees and shall be discussed in this review.…”

“…strain EPA505 has also continued. Strain EPA505 was originally isolated from a creosote-contaminated soil in Pensacola, Florida, USA (Mueller et al, 1989;1990) and was shown to utilize or biotransform many HMW PAHs, including fluoranthene, benzo[b]fluorene, benz[a]anthracene, chrysene, pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene and dibenz [a,h]anthracene under different circumstances (Ye et al, 1996). It was used as a model organism in surfactant (Triton X-100, Tween 80), bioemulsifier (alasan) and sphingan biodegradation studies of the HMW PAHs fluoranthene and pyrene (Willumsen and Karlson, 1998;Barkay et al, 1999;Willumsen and Arvin, 1999;Luning Prak and Pritchard, 2002;Johnsen and Karlson, 2004), including an investigation with phenanthrene that documented the preferential utilization of Tween surfactant hydrophobic fractions as a carbon source by this strain (Kim and Weber, 2003) and the documentation of horizontal transfer of alasan to its cell surface (Osterreicher-Ravid et al, 2000).…”

Degradation of straight-chain aliphatic and high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by a strain of Mycobacterium austroafricanum

“…Growth on PAH containing four fused aromatic rings (e.g. chrysene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benz[a]anthracene) is somewhat more rare, although organisms are known that can utilize each of these as growth substrates (Heitkamp et al 1988a,b;Mueller et al 1990;Walter et al 1991;Weissenfels et al 1991;Boldrin et al 1993;Caldini et al 1995;Schneider et al 1996;Bouchez et al 1997;Juhasz et al 1997;Churchill et al 1999;Bastiaens et al 2000, Vila et al 2001. Currently, only a few bacterial isolates have been reported to degrade five-ring PAHs (e.g.…”