Phenanthrene Degradation Ability of Phyllosphere Bacteria Inhabiting the Urban Areas in Sri Lanka

Posted: 5 Dec 2019

See all articles by RBN Dharmasiri

RBN Dharmasiri

Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

AHL Nilmini

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

LJS Undugoda

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

NNRN Nugara

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

D Udayanga

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

PM Manage

Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research, Department of Zoology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Date Written: December 3, 2019

Abstract

Air pollution from polyaromatic hydrocarbonic (PAH) pollutants are one of the most severe problems in the world. Out of many PAH pollutants, phenantherene is important due to their high carcinogenicity and genotoxicity to all living beings. Although there are many anthropogenic sources of PAHs, the key sources of phenanthrene are vehicular emission and oil refinery processes. The release of such air pollutants in heavy concentrations are getting settled over the phyllosphere through dry deposition, and wet deposition and most of the phyllosphere bacteria are able to degrade phenanthrene. This attempt is to isolate, select and identify the best phenanthrene degrading bacteria to use them as phylloremediators of PAH pollutants. Bacterial isolations were obtained from leaf samples collected from Panchikawatta, Orugodawatta, Pettah, Maradana, Colombo Fort and Sapugaskanda oil refinery areas in Sri Lanka. Initially, phenanthrene degradation ability of isolated phyllosphere bacteria was screened using the plate assay method. Subsequently, phenanthrene degradation by each bacterial species was analysed using the absorbance values from UV-Vis spectrophotometric analysis and High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The selected bacterial isolates were identified up to species level through PCR amplification and sequencing the amplified fragments using the primers 1492R (GGTTACCTTGTTACGACTT) and 27F (AGAGTTTGATCMTGGCTCAG). Ninety-three morphologically different bacterial strains were isolated from the leaf samples collected from the five selected urban-polluted areas. According to the results of plate assay, out of 93 bacterial strains, nine were able to grow on phenanthrene added Bacto Bushnell Hass agar medium. Further analysis results of UV-Vis spectrophotometric and HPLC methods revealed, five bacterial species, Bacillus pumilus strain I_21, B. pumilus strain X4, Bacillus sp. LWYT1353, B. megaterium strain F4-2-27 and Bacillus sp. AIIW2 were able to degrade more than 20% of phenanthrene and out of them B. megaterium strain F4-2-27 has showed the best phenanthrene degradation ability. The consortium of these nine bacterial strains can be used for bioremediation of polluted sites which is contaminated from phenanthrene.

Keywords: phyllosphere, aromatic hydrocarbon, bioremediation, phenanthrene

Suggested Citation

Dharmasiri, RBN and Nilmini, AHL and Undugoda, LJS and Nugara, NNRN and Udayanga, D and Manage, PM, Phenanthrene Degradation Ability of Phyllosphere Bacteria Inhabiting the Urban Areas in Sri Lanka (December 3, 2019). Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Approaches (iCMA) 2019 | Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3497475

RBN Dharmasiri

Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Sri Jayewardenepura ( email )

Sri Lanka

AHL Nilmini (Contact Author)

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura ( email )

Sri Lanka

LJS Undugoda

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura ( email )

Sri Lanka

NNRN Nugara

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura ( email )

Sri Lanka

D Udayanga

Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura ( email )

Sri Lanka

PM Manage

Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research, Department of Zoology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura ( email )

Sri Lanka

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