Microbial Degradation of Organic Contaminants in Streambed/Floodplain Sediments in Passaic River—New Jersey Area

This paper is intended to explore soil organic matter and carbon isotope fractionation at three locations of the Passaic River to determine if microbial degradation of organic contaminants in soil is correlated to the surrounding physical environment. Microbial degradation of organic contaminants is important for the detoxification of toxic substances thereby minimizing stagnation in the environment and accumulating in the food chain. Since organic contaminants are not easily dissolved in water, they will penetrate sediment and end up enriching the adjacent soil. The hypothesis that we are testing is microbial activity and carbon isotope fractionation will be greater in preserved soils than urban soils. The reason why this is expected to be the case is the expectation of higher microbial activity in preserved environments due to less exposure to pollutants, better soil structure, higher organic matter content, and more favorable conditions for microbial growth. This is contrasted with urban soils, which are impacted by pollutants and disturbances, potentially inhibiting microbial activity. We wish to collect soil samples adjacent to the Passaic River at a pristine location, Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, a suburban location, Goffle Brook Park, Hawthorne NJ, and an urban location, Paterson NJ. These soil samples will be weighed for soil organic matter (SOM) and weighed for isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) to test organic carbon isotopes. High SOM and δ13C depletion activity indicate microbial growth based on the characteristics of the soil horizon rather than the location of the soil sample which results in degradation of organic compounds.

Degradation of corn stalk by the composite microbial system of MC1

The composite microbial system of MC1 was used to degrade corn stalk in order to determine properties of the degraded products as well as bacterial composition of MC1. Results indicated that the pH of the fermentation broth was typical of lignocellulose degradation by MC1, decreasing in the early phase and increasing in later stages of the degradation. The microbial biomass peaked on the day 3 after degradation. The MC1 efficiently degraded the corn stalk by nearly 70% during which its cellulose content decreased by 71.2%, hemicellulose by 76.5% and lignin by 24.6%. The content of water-soluble carbohydrates （WSC） in the fermentation broth increased progressively during the first three days, and decreased thereafter, suggesting an accumulation of WSC in the early phase of the degradation process. Total levels of various volatile products peaked in the third day after degradation, and 7 types of volatile products were detected in the fermentation broth. These were ethanol, acetic acid, 1,2-ethanediol, propanoic acid, butanoic acid, 3- methyl-butanoic acid and glycerine. Six major compounds were quantitatively analysed and the contents of each compound were ethanol （0.584 g/L）, acetic acid （0.735 g/L）, 1,2-ethanediol （0.772 g/L）, propanoic acid （0.026 g/L）, butanoic acid （0.018 g/L） and glycerine （4.203 g/L）. Characterization of bacterial cells collected from the culture solution, based on 16S rDNA PCR-DGGE analysis of DNAs, showed that the composition of bacterial community in MC1 coincided basically with observations from previous studies. This indicated that the structure of MC1 is very stable during degradation of different lignocellulose materials.

Screening of a Composite Microbial System and Its Characteristics of Wheat Straw Degradation

To accelerate the decomposition of wheat straw directly returned to soil, we constructed a microbial system （ADS-3） from agricultural soil containing rotting straw residues using a 40-wk limited cultivation. To assess its potential use for accelerating straw decomposing, the decomposing characteristics and the microbial composition of ADS-3 were analyzed. The results indicated that it could degrade wheat straw and filter paper by 63.8 and 80%, respectively, during 15 d of incubation. Straw hemicellulose degraded dramatically 51.2% during the first 3 d, decreasing up to 73.7% by the end of incubation. Cellulose showed sustained degradation reaching 53.3% in 15 d. Peak values of xylanase and cellulase activities appeared at 3 and 11 d, with 1.32 and 0.15 U mL-1, respectively. Estimated pH averaged 6.4-7.6 during the degradation process, which approximated acidity and alkalinity of normal soils. The microbial composition of ADS-3 was stable based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） analysis. By using bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal 26S rRNA gene clone library analysis, 20 bacterial clones and 7 fungal clones were detected. Closest identified relatives of bacteria represented by Bacillus fusiformis, Cytophaga sp., uncultured Clostridiales bacterium, Ruminobacillus xylanolyticum, Clostridium hydroxybenzoicum, and uncultured proteobacterium and the fungi were mainly identified as related to Pichia sp. and uncultured fungus.

Process of rice straw degradation and dynamic trend of pH by the microbial community MC1

The process of the rice straw degradation in the fermentor with aeration at 290 ml/h was studied. The results of dissolved oxygen （DO） indicated that the optimum DO during cellulose degradation by microbial community MC1 ranged from 0.01 to 0.12 mg/L. The change model ofpH values was as follows： irrespective of the initial pH of the medium, pH values decreased rapidly to approximate 6.0 after being inoculated within 48 h when cellulose was strongly degraded, and then increased slowly to 8.0--9.0 until cellulose was degraded completely. During the degradation process, 15 kinds of organic compounds were checked out by GC-MS. Most of them were organic acids. Quantity analysis was carried out, and the maximum content compound was ethyl acetate which reached 13.56 g/L on the day 4. The cellulose degradation quantity and ratio analyses showed that less quantity （under batch fermentation conditions） and longer interval （under semi-fermentation conditions） of rice straw added to fermentation system were contributed to matching the change model of pH, and increasing the quantity and ratio of rice straw degradation during cellulose degrading process. The highest degradation ratio was observed under the condition office straw added one time every five days （under semi-fermentation conditions）.

Microbial Degradation of Quinoline: Kinetics Study With Burkholderia picekttii

Objective To investigate the kinetics of quinoline biodegradation by Burkholderia pickttii, a Gram negative rod-shaped aerobe, isolated in our laboratory. Methods HPLC (Hewlett-Packard model 5050 with an UV detector) was used for the analysis of quinoline concentration. GC/MS method was used to identify the intermediate metabolites of quinoline degradation. Results The biodegradation of quinoline was inhibited by quinoline at a high concentration, and the degradation process could be described by the Haldane model. The kinetic parameters based on Haldane substrate inhibition were evaluated. The values were v = 0.44 h-1,Ks=166.7 mg/L, Ki= 650 mg/L, respectively. The quinoline concentration to avoid substrate inhibition was inferred theoretically and determined to be 329 mg/L. Conclusion The biodegradation of quinoline conforms to the Haldane inhibition model and the main intermediate metabolite of quinoline biodegradation is 2-hydroxy-quinoline.

Microbial PAH-Degradation in Soil: Degradation Pathways and Contributing Factors

Adverse effects on the environment and high persistence in the microbial degradation and environmental fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are motivating interest. Many soil microorganisms can degrade PAHs and use various metabolic pathways to do so. However, both the physio-chemical characteristics of compounds as well as the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils can drastically influence the degradation capacity of naturally occurring microorganisms for field bioremediation. Modern biological techniques have been widely used to promote the efficiency of microbial PAH-degradation and make the biodegradation metabolic pathways more clear. In this review microbial degradation of PAHs in soil is discussed, with emphasis placed on the main degradation pathways and the environmental factors affecting biodegradation.

Photochemical degradation of environmentally persistent perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the presence of Fe(Ⅲ)

Environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative perfluorooctanic acid （PFOA） was difficult to be decomposed under the irradiation of 254 nm UV light. However, in the presence of 80μmol/L Fe（Ⅲ）, 80% of PFOA with initial concentration of 48μmol/L （20 mg/L） was effectively degraded and 47.8% of fluorine atoms in PFOA molecule were transformed into inorganic fluoride ion after 4 h reaction. Shorter chain perfluorocarboxylic acids bearing C3-C7 and fluoride ion were detected and identified by LC/MS and IC as the degradation products in the aqueous solution. It was proposed that complexes of PFOA with Fe（Ⅲ） initiated degradation of PFOA irradiated with 254 nm UV light.

Cometabolic microbial degradation of trichloroethylene in the presence of toluene

Trichloroethylene(TCE), a common groundwater pollutant, was cometabolized by microorganisms in the presence of toluene as a growth substrate. The effect of concentrations of toluene and TCE and temperature on biodegradation was discussed. Acclimated microorganisms degraded TCE after a lag period of 5 to 22 h depending on toluene concentrations. Approximately 60%, 90% and 64% of TCE were degraded at toluene to TCE concentration ratios of 23∶1, 115∶1 and 230∶1, respectively. At a TCE concentration of 1 46 μg/ml, 80% of TCE and 98 4% of toluene were removed. But less degradation of TCE and toluene was observed when TCE concentration was above 48 8 μg/ml. The lag time of TCE decreased and the TCE biodegradation rates increased with the increase of temperature.

Screening of a microbial consortium with efficient corn stover degradation ability at low temperature

To speed up the degradation of corn stover directly returned to soil at low temperature, the corn stover-degrading microbial consortium GF-20, acclimated to biological decomposition in the frigid region, was successfully constructed under a long-term limiting substrate. To evaluate its potential in accelerating the decomposition of un-pretreated corn stover, the decomposing property, fermentation dynamic and the microbial diversity were analyzed. GF-20 degraded corn stover by 32% after 15-day fermentation at 10℃. Peak activities of filter paperlyase（FPA）, β-glucosidases（CB）, endoglucanases（Cx）, and cellobiohydrolases（C1） were 1.15, 1.67, 1.73, and 1.42 U m L^–1, appearing at the 6th, 3rd, 11 th, and 9th d, respectively. The p H averaged at 6.73–8.42, and the optical density（OD） value peaked at 1.87 at the 120 h of the degradation process. Cellulase, hemicellulase and lignin in corn stover were persistently degraded by 44.85, 43.85 and 25.29% at the end of incubation. Result of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis（DGGE） profiles demonstrated that GF-20 had a stable component structure under switching the temperature and p H. The composition of the GF-20 was also analyzed by constructing bacterial 16 S r DNA clone library and fungal 18 Sr DNA-PCR-DGGE. Twenty-two bacterial clones and four fungal bands were detected and identified dominant bacteria represented by Cellvibrio mixtus subsp., Azospira oryzae, Arcobacter defluyii, and Clostridium populeti and the fungi were mainly identified as related to Trichosporon sp.

Fenton Pre-Oxidation Followed by Microbial Degradation for Removing Crude Oil from Contaminated Soil

Through the Fenton pre-oxidation followed by microbial degradation,this study gave full play to its advantages while avoiding its shortcomings for the remediation of crude oil contaminated soil.The Fenton reagent coupled with different volumes of H2O2 was applied to the oil contaminated soil and then the microbial agents were introduced to biodegrade the residual oil for 15 days.The correlation between the characteristics of residual oil in soil,the changes in soil physical-chemical property after the Fenton pre-oxidation,and the biodegradation were analyzed in this paper.The results show that the above factors are strongly correlated with the subsequent biodegradation rate,and the order of correlation is as follows:the ratio of TOC to NH4+-N(R^2=0.9513)>the ratio of light oil components to the heavy oil components(R^2=0.9095)>the proportion of hydrocarbons with carbon chain number of less than C23(R^2=0.8259)>the crude oil content(R^2=0.7603)>the soil pH(R^2=0.7492)>the number of microorganisms(R^2=0.6506).During the biodegradation and pre-oxidation reactions of heavy oil components,an appropriate C:N ratio turns out to be the most critical factor in this study.

Photochemical Degradation of Triadimefon in Seawater

The photochemical degradation of triadimefon in seawater was investigated under different reaction conditions in this study. The results showed that triadimefon could be effectively degraded by the irradiation of a high-pressure mercury lamp and the photodegradation rates were influenced by aquatic media, heavy metal ions and photosensitizers. The photochemical degradation of triadimefon followed the first-order reaction kinetic behavior, with the rate constants ranging from 0.0027 to 0.0128 min-1 under the studied conditions. The photolysis of triadimefon was slower in natural seawater than in distilled water or synthetic seawater. All the heavy metal ions studied in this paper had inhibition effects on the photolysis of triadimefon. Acetone, as a common photosensitizer, could accelerate the photolysis of triadimefon. Three photoproducts were identified by GC-MS analysis. Our study confirmed that photochemical degradation is an effective pathway to remove triadimefon in seawater.

Review on microbial degradation of zearalenone and aflatoxins

The widespread contamination by mycotoxins,especially zearalenone and aflatoxins,in crops and their by-products has caused severe undesirable effects on human health and commercial trade.Researchers had screened out microorganisms from various media for degrading zearalenone and aflatoxins,and the results of a lot of studies showed that enzymes derived from microbial strains play a key role in degrading mycotoxins.Genetic engineering technology had been applied to improve the heterologously expressed degrading enzymes in several mature microbial hosts such as Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris.The separated and purified recombinant enzyme had high activity in degrading mycotoxins in vitro.This review summarized the types of mycotoxins-degrading microorganisms and enzymes,and the progress on synthesis of heterologously expressed degrading enzymes by genetic engineering technology as well as related researches on improving the effect of degrading enzymes.We also prospected the future development in the study of using recombinant enzymes formed by genetic engineering technology to realize the simultaneous degradation of multiple mycotoxins in crops.

Responses of soil inhabiting nitrogen-cycling microbial communities to wetland degradation on the Zoige Plateau,China

The wetlands on the Zoige Plateau have experienced serious degradation,with most of the original marsh being converted to marsh meadow or meadow.Based on the 3 wetland degradation stages,we determined the effects of wetland degradation on the structure and relative abundance of nitrogencycling(nitrogen-fixing,ammonia-oxidizing,and denitrifying) microbial communities in 3 soil types(intact wetland:marsh soil;early degrading wetland:marsh meadow soil;and degraded wetland:meadow soil) using 454-pyrosequencing.The structure and relative abundance of nitrogen-cycling microbial communities differed in the 3 soil types.Proteobacteria was the predominant phylum in most soil samples but the most abundant soil nitrogenfixing and denitrifying microbial bacteria differed at the class,order,family,and genus levels among the 3soil types.At the genus level,the majority of nitrogenfixing bacterium sequences related to Bradyrhizobium were from marsh and marsh meadow soils;whereas those related to Geobacter originated from meadow soil.The majority of ammonia-oxidizing bacterium sequences related to Nitrosospira were from marsh(except for the 40-60 cm layer),marsh meadow and meadow soils;whereas those related to Candidatus Solibacter originated from 40-60 cm layer of marsh soil.The majority of denitrifying bacterium sequences related to Candidatus Solibacter and Anaeromyxobacter were from marsh and meadow soils;whereas those related to Herbaspirillum originated from meadow soil.The distribution of operational taxonomic units(OTUs)and species were correlated with soil type based upon Venn and Principal Coordinates Analysis(PCoA).Changes in soil type,caused by different water regimes were the most important factors influencing compositional changes in the nitrogen-fixing,ammonia-oxidizing,and denitrifying microbial communities.

Microbial degradation of chemically dispersed crude oil in marine enclesure ecosystem—Ⅰ．Comparisons of different nutrients at low level primary productivity

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Degradation of Cry1Ab Protein Within Transgenic Bt Maize Tissue by Composite Microbial System of MC1

Environmental safety issues involved in transgenic plants have become the concern of researchers, practitioners and policy makers in recent years. Potential differences between Bt maize（ND1324 and ND2353 expressing the insecticidal Cry1Ab protein） and near-isogenic non-Bt varieties（ND1392 and ND223） in their influence on the composite microbial system of MC1 during the fermentation process were studied during 2011-2012. Cry1Ab protein in Bt maize residues didn＇t affect characteristics of lignocellulose degradation by MC1, pH of fermentation broth decreasing at initial stage and increasing at later stage of degradation. The quality of various volatile products in fermentation broth showed that no signifi cant difference of residues fermentation existed between Bt maize and non-Bt maize. During the fermentation MC1 efficiently degraded maize residues by 83%-88%, and cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin content decreased by 70%-72%, 72%-75% and 30%-37%, respectively. Besides that, no consistent difference was found between Bt and non-Bt maize residues lignocellulose degradation by MC1 during the fermentation process. MC1 degraded 88%-89% Cry1Ab protein in Bt maize residues, and in the fermentation broth of MC1 and bacteria of MC1 Cry1Ab protein was not detected. DGGE profi le analyses revealed that the microbial community drastically changed during 1-3 days and became stable until the 9th day. Though the dominant strains at different fermentation stages had signifi cantly changed, no difference on the dominant strains was observed between Bt and non-Bt maize at different stages. Our study indicated that Cry1Ab protein did not infl uence the growth characteristic of MC1.

Lindane Degradation and Effects on Soil Microbial Activity

The degradation of U-14C-lindane in two Egyptian soils was determined in a three-month laboratory incubation. Lindane mineralization was slow and limited in both soils. Evolution of 14CO2 increased with time but only reached 3. 5 to 5. 5 % of the initial 14C-concentration within 90 days. At that time both soils contained about 88 % of the applied radiocarbon; 33 % to 37% of the initial dose was unextractable and assumed bound to the soils. The methanol-ex-tractable 14C primarily contained lindane with traces of minor metabolites. Radiorespirometry was used to eva1uate the effect of lindane on soil microbial activity. Low concentrations of the insecticide initially supressed 14CO2 evolution from U-14C-glucose and microbial activity was significantly inhibited by 10 mg lindane/kg soil.

Microbial degradation and its influence on components of coalbed gases in Enhong syncline, China

Coalbed gases (CBG) in Enhong syncline are characterized by high concentration of C2+ (C2-5 ), with the highest content of ethane over 30%. However, the concentrations of C2+ are not evenly distributed in the syncline. Based on the analysis of δ13C1 , δ13C2 , δ13C3 , δ13CO2 , δDCH4 of CBG and their origin diagrams in the normal and abnormal areas, this research shows that gases in both areas are thermogenic gases and the reason for the uneven distribution of C2+ is that the microbial degradation action on gases is stronger in the normal area than in the abnormal area. The secondary biologic gases in the normal area are mainly characterized by that the carbon isotopes become obviously lighter in methane and become heavier in ethane, whereas the molecular and isotopic compositions of CO2 change little. These features indicate that the secondary biologic gases are mainly generated by the microbial degradation of C2+ , not generated by the reduction of CO2 . The degradation process is selective to make the residual ethane being enriched in 13C and the generated methane rich in 12C.

Linkages between soil microbial stability and carbon storage in the active layer under permafrost degradation

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP)distributes the largest extent of high-altitude mountain permafrost in the world(Zou et al.,2017),which has different characteristics from high-latitude permafrost(Yang et al.,2010)and stores massive soil carbon.

Stability Analysis of a Lignocellulose Degrading Microbial Consortium

An active mesophilic lignocellulose degrading microbial consortium, designated LZF-12, was bred from humus-rich soil by successive subcultivation under facultative aerobic static condition. Batch experiments were performed to investigate the structural and functional stability of lignocellulose degradation of rice straw of 10 g · L-1. The results showed that efficient degradation of rice straw(>70%) could be achieved and acetic acid concentration accounted for over 70% of total aqueous products from different generations by microbial consortium LZF-12 within 7 days. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(DGGE) and sequencing of 16 S r DNA sequences amplified from the total consortium DNA representing the presence of sequences were related to those of Clostridium, Clostridium cellulolyticum, Pseudomonas, Acetivibrio and some uncultured bacteria in LZF-12. DGGE pattern profiles from different LZF-12 generations were reproducible, suggesting the relative stabilities of the microbial community structure and succession mechanism in the established consortium.

Enhanced Biodegradation of High-Salinity and Low- Temperature Crude-Oil Wastewater by Immobilized Crude-Oil Biodegrading Microbiota

High salt and low temperature are the bottlenecks for the remove of oil contaminants by enriched crude-oil degrading microbiota in Liaohe Estuarine Wetland(LEW),China.To improve the performance of crude-oil removal,microbiota was further immobilized by two methods,i.e.,sodium alginate(SA),and polyvinyl alcohol and sodium alginate(PVA+SA).Results showed that the crude oil was effectively removed by the enrichment with an average degrading ratio of 19.42-31.45 mg(L d)^(−1).The optimal inoculum size for the n-alkanes removal was 10%and 99.89%.Some members of genera Acinetobacter,Actinophytocola,Aquabac-terium,Dysgonomonas,Frigidibacter,Sphingobium,Serpens,and Pseudomonas dominated in crude-oil degrading microflora.Though the removal efficiency was lower than free bacteria when the temperature was 15℃,SA and PVA+SA immobilization im-proved the resistance to salinity.The composite crude-oil degrading microbiota in this study demonstrated a perspective potential for crude oil removal from surface water under high salinity and low temperature conditions.