Microbiome enrichment from contaminated marine sediments unveils novel bacterial strains for petroleum hydrocarbon and heavy metal bioremediation
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
Petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals are some of the most widespread contaminants affecting marine
ecosystems, urgently needing effective and sustainable remediation solutions. Microbial-based bioremediation is
gaining increasing interest as an effective, economically and environmentally sustainable strategy. Here, we
hypothesized that the heavily polluted coastal area facing the Sarno River mouth, which discharges >3 tons of
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and ~15 tons of heavy metals (HMs) into the sea annually, hosts
unique microbiomes including marine bacteria useful for PAHs and HMs bioremediation. We thus enriched the
microbiome of marine sediments, contextually selecting for HM-resistant bacteria. The enriched mixed bacterial
culture was subjected to whole-DNA sequencing, metagenome-assembled-genomes (MAGs) annotation, and
further sub-culturing to obtain the major bacterial species as pure strains. We obtained two novel isolates corresponding
to the two most abundant MAGs (Alcanivorax xenomutans strain-SRM1 and Halomonas alkaliantarctica
strain-SRM2), and tested their ability to degrade PAHs and remove HMs. Both strains exhibited high PAHs
degradation (60–100%) and HMs removal (21–100%) yield, and we described in detail >60 genes in their MAGs
to unveil the possible genetic basis for such abilities.
Description
Keywords
Biotechnology, Bioremediation, Marine biotechnology, Marine bacteria
Citation
Dell’Anno, F. et al. (2023). Microbiome enrichment from contaminated marine sediments unveils novel bacterial strains for petroleum hydrocarbon and heavy metal bioremediation. Environmental Pollution, 317, 120772. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120772