Molecular Characterization of Phenol-Degrading Bacteria Isolated from Different Egyptian Ecosystems

Abstract

Twelve selected phenol-degrading bacterial isolates were obtained on phenol agar plates using culture enrichment technique. Molecular identification of the isolates was performed using eubacterial 16S rRNA PCR specific primers. Based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis, the results revealed that the majority of the isolates (8 out of 12) are affiliated to the g-subdivision of Proteobacteria. Four out of the eight isolates are closely related to the genus Acinetobacter. Molecular heterogeneity among the phenol-degrading isolates was further investigated by using rep-PCR chromosomal fingerprinting and correlated with plasmid and antibiotic profile analysis. Rep-PCR results strongly confirmed that the bacterial isolates from different environmental sites produced different fingerprinting patterns. The mineralization of phenol by all isolates was evaluated using 14C-labeled phenol assay. Phenol mineralization ranged from 55% (W-17) to 0.4% (Sea-9). This was further confirmed by the detection of several monoaromatic and polyaromatic degrading genes, e.g., pheA, MopR, XylE, and NahA. In addition, catalytic enzymes such as catalase and dioxygenase were also monitored.

Biodiversity of culturable heterotrophic bacteria in the Southern Adriatic Sea Italian coastal waters

“…Members of the genus Acinetobacter are usually isolated in water. They are capable of degrading aromatic compounds and their metabolic versatility is comparable to that of the Pseudomonads (Abd-El-Haleen et al, 2002). Chromobacterium is ubiquitous in nature and found in waters from polar regions to the tropics.…”

Isolation and characterization of a new Pseudomonas-related strain capable of degradation of phenol from oil contaminated soil

“…In addition, studies on phenol toxicity to bacteria have shown that bacteria can adapt a low level of phenol concentrations, but increasing phenol concentrations appeared to decrease overall phenol degradation (Dean and Rahimi, 1995). A range of phenol-degrading microorganisms have been identified, including Acinetobacter (Abd et al, 2002), Bacillus (Arutchelvan et al, 2005), Burkholderia (El et al, 2003), Pseudomonas (Whiteley et al, 2001), Valivorax (Watanabe et al, 1998), mesophilic and thermophilic methanogens , and the yeast Candida tropicalis (Jiang et al, 2005). Many studies proved that phenol-degrading bacteria have been isolated from natural soils (De et al, 2005), plants roots (Wang et al, 2007), root nodules (Wei et al, 2008), rivers (Parvanov and Topalova, 2008), and marine ecosystems (Shashirekha et al, 1997).…”

Isolation, biochemical and molecular characterization of 2-chlorophenol-degrading Bacillus isolates

“…Chlorinated phenols are common environmental contaminants; they have been extensively used as biocides, mainly as wood preservatives (Abd-El-Haleem et al, 2002). Chlorinated phenols and other chlorinated phenollic compounds are also formed as by-products when chlorine is used for bleaching of pulp (Kringstad and Lindstrom, 1984) and for disinfection of drinking water and waste water containing phenols (Ahlborg and Thunberg, 1980;Detrick, 1977).…”

“…In general, biological methods are preferable methods to treat aromatic compounds because it is economical, and there is a low possibility of the production of byproducts (Marcos et al, 1997). In this concern, several microorganisms used are usually aerobes, including Acinetobacter (Abd-El-Haleem et al, 2002), Pseudo-monas putida ( Tarık and Ermine, 2004), Ochromonas sp. (Semple and Cain, 1996), and Rhodococcus sp.…”