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Environ Sci Pollut Res (2014) 21:93859395 DOI 10.1007/s11356-014-2872-1
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Characterization of hydrocarbon-degradingand biosurfactant-producing Pseudomonas sp. P-1 strainas a potential tool for bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soil
Magdalena Pacwa-Pociniczak & Grayna Anna Paza &
Anna Poliwoda & Zofia Piotrowska-Seget
Received: 16 December 2013 /Accepted: 2 April 2014 /Published online: 18 April 2014 # The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract The Pseudomonas sp. P-1 strain, isolated from heavily petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil, was investigated for its capability to degrade hydrocarbons and produce a biosurfactant. The strain degraded crude oil, fractions A5 and P3 of crude oil, and hexadecane (27, 39, 27 and 13 % of hydrocarbons added to culture medium were degraded, respectively) but had no ability to degrade phenanthrene. Additionally, the presence of gene-encoding enzymes responsible for the degradation of alkanes and naphthalene in the genome of the P-1 strain was reported. Positive results of blood agar and methylene blue agar tests, as well as the presence of gene rhl, involved in the biosynthesis of rhamnolipid, confirmed the ability of P-1 for synthesis of glycolipid biosurfactant. 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectrum and mass spectrum analyses indicated that the extracted biosurfactant was affiliated with rhamnolipid. The results of this study indicate that the P-1 and/or biosurfactant produced by this strain have the potential to be used in bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils.
Keywords Hydrocarbon degradation . Biosurfactant production . Pseudomonas sp. P-1 . Crude oil . Rhamnolipid . rhl gene
Introduction
Contamination of soil by petroleum hydrocarbons and their derivatives is a serious environmental problem all over the world. Among a variety of the remediation methods, bioaugmentation, involving the introduction of microorganisms into contaminated water or soil, is widely used for cleaning up environments polluted with organic compounds (Chang et al. 2011; Federici et al. 2012), co-contaminated with hydrocarbons and heavy metals (Alisi et al. 2009), or polluted with heavy metals (Pociniczak et al. 2013).
In bioaugmentation of petroleum-contaminated soil, hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria are applied to polluted environments in order to accelerate the degradation of toxic compounds (Margesin and Schinner 2001). One of the main problems that limit the effectiveness of this process is very low solubility and high hydrophobicity of oil pollutants. These compounds strongly bind to...