Isolation and Evaluation of PAH Degrading Bacteria

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degrading bacteria can be isolated from polluted coastal environments. They were close to Burkholderia fungorum and Mycobacterium gilvum, and had nidA, nidA3, pdoA2, and pcaH genes. In the pyrene and fluoranthene degradation experiment using a minimum medium, B. fungorum isolate no. 1 and M. gilvum isolate no. 13 were able to degrade 98.6% + 1.9 of pyrene after 20 days, and 99.9% ± 0.1 after a 16-day incubation period, respectively. Moreover, fluoranthene could be consumed by B. fungorum isolate no. 1 and M. gilvum isolate no. 13 at the level of 99.6% ± 0.7 after 24 days, and 100% after a 28-day incubation period, respectively.