A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a hydrocarbon—a chemical compound containing only carbon and hydrogen—that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The group is a major subset of the aromatic hydrocarbons. The simplest of such chemicals is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings, and the three-ring compounds are anthracene and phenanthrene. The terms polyaromatic hydrocarbon or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon are also used for this concept.
Mycoremediation is a form of bioremediation in which fungi-based remediation methods are used to decontaminate the environment. Fungi have been proven to be a cheap, effective and environmentally sound way for removing a wide array of contaminants from damaged environments or wastewater. These contaminants include heavy metals, organic pollutants, textile dyes, leather tanning chemicals and wastewater, petroleum fuels, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, pesticides and herbicides in land, fresh water, and marine environments.
Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans AK-01 is a specific strain of Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans.
Pseudomonas stutzeri is a Gram-negative soil bacterium that is motile, has a single polar flagellum, and is classified as bacillus, or rod-shaped. While this bacterium was first isolated from human spinal fluid, it has since been found in many different environments due to its various characteristics and metabolic capabilities. P. stutzeri is an opportunistic pathogen in clinical settings, although infections are rare. Based on 16S rRNA analysis, this bacterium has been placed in the P. stutzeri group, to which it lends its name.
Delftia is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria that was first isolated from soil in Delft, Netherlands. The species is named after both the city, and in honor of pioneering research in the field of bacteriology that occurred in Delft. Cells in the genus Delftia are rod shaped and straight or slightly curved. Cells occur singly or in pairs, are 0.4–0.8ɥM wide and 2.5–4.1ɥM long. Delftia are motile by flagella, non-sporulating, and chemo-organotrophic.
Marinobacter is a genus of bacteria found in sea water. They are also found in a variety of salt lakes. A number of strains and species can degrade hydrocarbons. The species involved in hydrocarbon degradation include M. alkaliphilus, M. arcticus, M. hydrocarbonoclasticus, M. maritimus & M. squalenivorans.
Microbial biodegradation is the use of bioremediation and biotransformation methods to harness the naturally occurring ability of microbial xenobiotic metabolism to degrade, transform or accumulate environmental pollutants, including hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic compounds, pharmaceutical substances, radionuclides and metals.
Gallaecimonas is a recently described genus of bacteria. The first described species of this genus was Gallaecimonas pentaromativorans gen. nov., sp. nov. isolated by Rodríguez Blanco et al. in 2010 from intertidal sediments of the ria of Corcubión. It is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, halotolerant bacterium in the class Gammaproteobacteria. It can degrade high molecular mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of 4 and 5 rings. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of the type strain CEE_131(T) proved to be distantly related to those of Rheinheimera and Serratia. Its G+C content was 41.7 mol%.
Delftia lacustris is a Gram-negative, nonfermentative, motile, rod-shaped bacterium from the family Comamonadaceae, which was isolated from mesotrophic lake water in Denmark. It has the ability to degrade peptidoglycan through chitinase and lysozyme activity.
Sphingomonas yanoikuyae is a short rod-shaped, strictly aerobic, Gram-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, chemoheterotrophic species of bacteria that is yellow or off-white in color. Its type strain is JCM 7371. It is notable for degrading a variety of aromatic compounds including biphenyl, naphthalene, phenanthrene, toluene, m-, and p-xylene. S. yanoikuyae was discovered by Brian Goodman on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. However, Sphingomonas have a wide distribution across freshwater, seawater, and terrestrial habitats. This is due to the bacteria's ability to grow and survive under low-nutrient conditions as it can utilize a broad range of organic compounds.
Vibrio cyclitrophicus is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading marine bacterium. The type strain is P-2P44T.
Alcanivorax pacificus is a pyrene-degrading marine gammaprotobacterium. It is of the genus Alcanivorax, a group of marine bacteria known for degrading hydrocarbons. When originally proposed, the genus Alcanivorax comprised six distinguishable species. However, A. pacificus, a seventh strain, was isolated from deep sea sediments in the West Pacific Ocean by Shanghai Majorbio Bio-pharm Technology Co., Ltd. in 2011. A. pacificus’s ability to degrade hydrocarbons can be employed for cleaning up oil-contaminated oceans through bioremediation. The genomic differences present in this strain of Alcanivorax that distinguish it from the original consortium are important to understand to better utilize this bacteria for bioremediation.
Novosphingobium pentaromativorans is a species of high-molecular-mass polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium. It is Gram-negative, yellow-pigmented and halophilic. With type strain US6-1T. Its genome has been sequenced.
Marinobacter aromaticivorans is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped and slightly halotolerant bacterium from the genus of Marinobacter which has been isolated from sediments from the South China Sea. Marinobacter aromaticivorans has the ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Bioremediation of petroleum contaminated environments is a process in which the biological pathways within microorganisms or plants are used to degrade or sequester toxic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and other volatile organic compounds found within fossil fuels. Oil spills happen frequently at varying degrees along with all aspects of the petroleum supply chain, presenting a complex array of issues for both environmental and public health. While traditional cleanup methods such as chemical or manual containment and removal often result in rapid results, bioremediation is less labor-intensive, expensive, and averts chemical or mechanical damage. The efficiency and effectiveness of bioremediation efforts are based on maintaining ideal conditions, such as pH, RED-OX potential, temperature, moisture, oxygen abundance, nutrient availability, soil composition, and pollutant structure, for the desired organism or biological pathway to facilitate reactions. Three main types of bioremediation used for petroleum spills include microbial remediation, phytoremediation, and mycoremediation. Bioremediation has been implemented in various notable oil spills including the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident where the application of fertilizer on affected shoreline increased rates of biodegradation.
Neptunomonas is an anaerobic and rod-shaped genus from the family of Oceanospirillaceae.
Gordonia sp. nov. Q8 is a bacterium in the phylum of Actinomycetota. It was discovered in 2017 as one of eighteen new species isolated from the Jiangsu Wei5 oilfield in East China with the potential for bioremediation. Strain Q8 is rod-shaped and gram-positive with dimensions 1.0–4.0 μm × 0.5–1.2 μm and an optimal growth temperature of 40 °C. Phylogenetically, it is most closely related to Gordonia paraffinivorans and Gordonia alkaliphila, both of which are known bioremediators. Q8 was assigned as a novel species based on a <70% ratio of DNA homology with other Gordonia bacteria.
Aestuariicella is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative, and strictly aerobic genus of bacteria from the order Alteromonadales with one known species. Aestuariicella hydrocarbonica was first isolated in 2015 from oil spill contaminated tidal flat sediments from the Dangjin bay in Korea. Due to the recent nature of its discovery, its taxonomic classification has not yet been accepted. Future research into its evolutionary history and genome may change the naming of this organism.
Perspicuibacter marinus is smooth, lenticular, light yellow, semi-translucent, circular colonies with a fluttered edge found on surface seawater at Muroto city, Kochi prefecture, Japan. “Cells contain carotenoid(s), and the dominant carotenoid that anatomically similar to beta carotene. Cells are 0.3–0.860.8–3.0 mm, grow at 15–31 uC, at pH 7.5–8.5 and with 2.0–3.5% (w/v) NaCl ” according to Teramoto M in the article Perspicuibacter marinus gen. nov., sp. nov., a semi-transparent bacterium isolated from surface seawater, and description of Arenicellaceae fam. nov. and Arenicellales. For an energy source it utilizes Pyruvate as a single carbon source and does not degrade casein, chitin or starch. The 2-9 strain is a gram-stain-negative, non-motile, mesophilic, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium. Perspicuibacter marinus is general proposed novel species - a semi-transparent bacterium secluded from surface seawater of Muroto City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan, and description of Arenicellaceae family novel and Arenicellales ordinance novel. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence show that strain 2-9T fell within the class of Gammaproteobacteria and was most closely related to the genus Arenicella. According to results of the study - 92.7–93.0% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to type strains of species of this genus - of an unclassified order within this class. The DNA G+C content of strain 2-9T was 41.7 mol%.
Hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria are a heterogeneous group of prokaryotes which can degrade and utilize hydrocarbon compounds as source of carbon and energy. Despite being present in most of environments around the world, several of these specialized bacteria live in the sea and have been isolated from polluted seawater.
