Abstract
Autochthonous bioaugmentation (uses microorganisms indigenous to the target sites) is proposed as a promising remediation technique that can overcome ecological barriers which usually impede successful applications of conventional bioaugmentation remedy. This study aimed to select and characterize strains for bench-scale evaluations of autochthonous bioaugmentation for remediation for oil-contaminated soil. Twenty-one oil-degrading stains were isolated from contaminated soil in an oil refinery plant in China. Six strains with high oil-degradation efficiencies were chosen for further morphological and biochemical characterizations, and their biosurfactant production potentials were measured. All six strains were able to produce biosurfactant, and the strain with the highest oil-degradation efficiency had the highest biosurfactant production potential, indicating the important role that biosurfactant played in accelerating biodegradation. Then we prepared the bioaugmentation consortium by mixing equal proportions of these six strains. Microcosm experiments showed that, after 84 days of incubation, the residual oil concentration in bioaugmented microcosms decreased by 63.2 ± 20.1 % while the residual oil concentration in the control only decreased by 21.3 ± 5.2 %. Gas chromatography-mass spectrum analysis further corroborated that 84 days of bioaugmentation significantly reduced the total number of contaminants and changed contaminant composition (resulting in higher relative abundance of short-chain alkanes and lower relative abundance of long-chain alkanes). All of these evidence showed that autochthonous bioaugmentation was an effective remediation technology, and the microbial consortium we isolated was an excellent bioaugmentation agent for crude oil-contaminated site.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alvarez, P. J., & Illman, W. A. (2005). Bioremediation and natural attenuation: process fundamentals and mathematical models. Hoboken: Wiley-Interscience.
Atlas, R. M., & Bartha, R. (1997). Microbial ecology: fundamentals and applications. Redwood City: Benjamin Cummings.
Balachandran, C., Duraipandiyan, V., Balakrishna, K., & Ignacimuthu, S. (2012). Petroleum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degradation and naphthalene metabolism in Streptomyces sp (ERI-CPDA-1) isolated from oil contaminated soil. Bioresource Technology, 112, 83–90.
Barabas, G., Vargha, G., Szabo, I. M., Penyige, A., Damjanovich, S., Szollosi, J., et al. (2001). n-Alkane uptake and utilisation by Streptomyces strains. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek International Journal of General and Molecular Microbiology, 79, 269–276.
Bedient, P. B., Rifai, H. S., & Newell, C. J. (1999). Ground water contamination: transport and remediation (second edition). Upper Saddle River: PTR Prentice Hall.
Cameotra, S. S., & Bollag, J. M. (2003). Biosurfactant-enhanced bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 33, 111–126.
Davis, J. R., & Sello, J. K. (2010). Regulation of genes in Streptomyces bacteria required for catabolism of lignin-derived aromatic compounds. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 86, 921–929.
Dong, X., & Cai, M. (2011). System identification manual of common bacteria (second edition). Beijing: Science Press.
El Fantroussi, S., & Agathos, S. N. (2005). Is bioaugmentation a feasible strategy for pollutant removal and site remediation? Current Opinion in Microbiology, 8, 268–275.
Ferradji, F. Z., Mnif, S., Badis, A., Rebbani, S., Fodil, D., Eddouaouda, K., et al. (2014). Naphthalene and crude oil degradation by biosurfactant producing Streptomyces spp. isolated from Mitidja Plain soil (North of Algeria). International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 86, 300–308.
Griffiths, P. R., & Haseth, J. A. D. (2007). Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (second edition). Hoboken: Wiley-Interscience.
Gunasekera, T. S., Striebich, R. C., Mueller, S. S., Strobel, E. M., & Ruiz, O. N. (2013). Transcriptional profiling suggests that multiple metabolic adaptations are required for effective proliferation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in jet fuel. Environmental Science & Technology, 47, 13449–13458.
Holt, J. G. (1994). Bergey’s manual of determinative bacteriology. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.
Hosokawa, R., Nagai, M., Morikawa, M., & Okuyama, H. (2009). Autochthonous bioaugmentation and its possible application to oil spills. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 25, 1519–1528.
Huang, X.-F., Liu, J., Lu, L.-J., Wen, Y., Xu, J.-C., Yang, D.-H., et al. (2009). Evaluation of screening methods for demulsifying bacteria and characterization of lipopeptide bio-demulsifier produced by Alcaligenes sp. Bioresource Technology, 100, 1358–1365.
Lee, D. H., Moon, S. R., Park, Y. H., Kim, J. H., Kim, H., Parales, R. E., et al. (2010). Pseudomonas taeanensis sp nov., isolated from a crude oil-contaminated seashore. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 60, 2719–2723.
Liu, H., Xu, J., Liang, R. & Liu, J. (2014). Characterization of the medium- and long-chain n-alkanes degrading Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain SJTD-1 and its alkane hydroxylase genes. Plos One. 9.
Loffler, F. E., & Edwards, E. A. (2006). Harnessing microbial activities for environmental cleanup. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 17, 274–284.
Luo, Q., Hiessl, S., & Steinbüchel, A. (2014). Functional diversity of Nocardia in metabolism. Environmental Microbiology, 16, 29–48.
Ma, J., Xiu, Z., Monier, A., Mamonkina, I., Zhang, Y., He, Y., et al. (2011). Aesthetic groundwater quality impacts from a continuous pilot-scale release of an ethanol blend. Ground Water Monitoring & Remediation, 31, 47–54.
Ma, J., Rixey, W. G., & Alvarez, P. J. J. (2013). Microbial processes influencing the transport, fate and groundwater impacts of fuel ethanol releases. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 24, 457–466.
Ma, J., Rixey, W. G., & Alvarez, P. J. J. (2015). Increased fermentation activity and persistent methanogenesis in a model aquifer system following source removal of an ethanol blend release. Water Research, 68, 479–486.
Madigan, M. T., & Martinko, J. M. (2006). Brock biology of microorganisms. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
MEP-China. (2012). Water quality-determination of petroleum oil, animal and vegetable oils—infrared photometric method (HJ 637–2012). Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Nhi-Cong, L. T., Mikolasch, A., Awe, S., Sheikhany, H., Klenk, H.-P., & Schauer, F. (2010). Oxidation of aliphatic, branched chain, and aromatic hydrocarbons by Nocardia cyriacigeorgica isolated from oil-polluted sand samples collected in the Saudi Arabian Desert. Journal of Basic Microbiology, 50, 241–253.
Qiu, J. (2010). China faces up to groundwater crisis. Nature, 466, 308–308.
Qiu, J. (2011). China to spend billions cleaning up groundwater. Science, 334, 745.
Quatrini, P., Scaglione, G., De Pasquale, C., Riela, S., & Puglia, A. M. (2008). Isolation of gram-positive n-alkane degraders from a hydrocarbon-contaminated Mediterranean shoreline. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 104, 251–259.
Radwan, S. S., Barabas, G., Sorkhoh, N. A., Damjanovich, S., Szabo, I., Szollosi, J., et al. (1998). Hydrocarbon uptake by Streptomyces. Fems Microbiology Letters, 169, 87–94.
Rodrigues, L. R., Teixeira, J. A., van der Mei, H. C., & Oliveira, R. (2006). Isolation and partial characterization of a biosurfactant produced by Streptococcus thermophilus A. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 53, 105–112.
Saadoun, I., Alawawdeh, M., Jaradat, Z., & Ababneh, Q. (2008). Growth of Streptomyces spp. From hydrocarbon-polluted soil on diesel and their analysis for the presence of alkane hydroxylase gene (alkB) by PCR. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 24, 2191–2198.
Salgado-Brito, R., Neria, M. I., Mesta-Howard, A. M., Diaz Cedillo, F., & Wang, E. T. (2007). Oxidation of solid paraffin (C11-40) by Pseudomonas aeruginosa MGP-1. Annals of Microbiology, 57, 321–328.
She, Y.-h., Zhang, F., Xia, J.-j., Kong, S.-q., Wang, Z.-i., Shu, F.-c., et al. (2011). Investigation of biosurfactant-producing indigenous microorganisms that enhance residue oil recovery in an oil reservoir after polymer flooding. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 163, 223–234.
Smith, B. C. (2011). Fundamentals of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (second edition). Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Souza, E. C., Vessoni-Penna, T. C., & de Souza Oliveira, R. P. (2014). Biosurfactant-enhanced hydrocarbon bioremediation: an overview. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 89, 88–94.
Swaranjit Singh, C., & Makkar, R. S. (2010). Biosurfactant-enhanced bioremediation of hydrophobic pollutants. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 82, 97–116.
Thompson, I. P., van der Gast, C. J., Ciric, L., & Singer, A. C. (2005). Bioaugmentation for bioremediation: the challenge of strain selection. Environmental Microbiology, 7, 909–915.
Ueno, A., Ito, Y., Yumoto, I., & Okuyama, H. (2007). Isolation and characterization of bacteria from soil contaminated with diesel oil and the possible use of these in autochthonous bioaugmentation. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 23, 1739–1745.
van Veen, J. A., van Overbeek, L. S., & van Elsas, J. D. (1997). Fate and activity of microorganisms introduced into soil. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 61, 121.
Weber, W. J., Jr., & Corseuil, H. X. (1994). Inoculation of contaminated subsurface soils with enriched indigenous microbes to enhance bioremediation rates. Water Research, 28, 1407–1414.
Whyte, L. G., Bourbonniere, L., & Greer, C. W. (1997). Biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by psychrotrophic Pseudomonas strains possessing both alkane (alk) and naphthalene (nah) catabolic pathways. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 63, 3719–3723.
Youssef, N. H., Duncan, K. E., Nagle, D. P., Savage, K. N., Knapp, R. M., & McInerney, M. J. (2004). Comparison of methods to detect biosurfactant production by diverse microorganisms. Journal of Microbiological Methods, 56, 339–347.
Yuste, L., Corbella, M. a. E., Turiégano, M. a. J., Karlson, U., Puyet, A., & Rojo, F. (2000). Characterization of bacterial strains able to grow on high molecular mass residues from crude oil processing. Fems Microbiology Ecology, 32, 69–75.
Zheng, C., & Liu, J. (2013). China’s “love canal” moment? Science, 340, 810.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21407180), National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2012AA063401), and Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum-Beijing (No. 2462014YJRC016).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ma, J., Yan, G., Ma, W. et al. Isolation and Characterization of Oil-Degrading Microorganisms for Bench-Scale Evaluations of Autochthonous Bioaugmentation for Soil Remediation. Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 272 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2491-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2491-6