A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. PAHs are uncharged, non-polar and planar. Many are colorless. Many of them are found in coal and in oil deposits, and are also produced by the combustion of organic matter—for example, in engines and incinerators or when biomass burns in forest fires.
Biological augmentation is the addition of archaea or bacterial cultures required to speed up the rate of degradation of a contaminant. Organisms that originate from contaminated areas may already be able to break down waste, but perhaps inefficiently and slowly.
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.
Rhodococcus is a genus of aerobic, nonsporulating, nonmotile Gram-positive bacteria closely related to Mycobacterium and Corynebacterium. While a few species are pathogenic, most are benign, and have been found to thrive in a broad range of environments, including soil, water, and eukaryotic cells. Some species have large genomes, including the 9.7 megabasepair genome of Rhodococcus sp. RHA1.
Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans AK-01 is a specific strain of Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans.
Mycobacterium brisbanense is a member of the Mycobacterium fortuitum third biovariant complex. They are rapidly growing ubiquitous environmental organisms that normally inhabit soil, dust and water. These organisms frequently are human pathogens that cause a wide spectrum of clinically significant disease. It is important for practitioners to be aware of these organisms as possible etiological agents, as they are resistant to most first-line anti-tuberculous agents.
Mycobacterium brumae is a rapidly growing environmental mycobacterial species identified in 1993. Aside from one 2004 report of a catheter related bloodstream infection no other infections by this organism have been reported. It was first isolated from water, soil and one human sputum sample in Spain.
Mycobacterium fortuitum is a nontuberculous species of the phylum Actinomycetota, belonging to the genus Mycobacterium.
Mycobacterium frederiksbergense is a species of the phylum Actinomycetota, belonging to the genus Mycobacterium.
Mycobacterium hodleri is a species of the phylum Actinomycetota, belonging to the genus Mycobacterium.
Mycobacterium lentiflavum
Etymology: Lentus from Latin for slow, flavus, Latin for yellow.
Mycobacterium pyrenivorans is a scotochromogenic, rapidly growing mycobacterium, first isolated from an enrichment culture obtained from soil that was highly contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The soil sample was collected on the site of a former coking plant at Ubach-Palenberg, Germany. Etymology: pyrenivorans; digesting pyrene.
Mycobacterium psychrotolerans is a rapidly growing mycobacterium first isolated from pond water near a uranium mine in Spain. It was able to grow at 4°C and is therefore considered to be psychrotolerant. Etymology: psychros, cold; tolerans, tolerating.
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.
Paraburkholderia sartisoli is a gram-negative, aerobic catalase and oxidase-positive rod-shaped bacterium from the genus Paraburkholderia and the family Burkholderiaceae which was isolated from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contaminated soil in New Zealand.
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.
1-Hydroxypyrene is a human metabolite. It can be found in urine of outdoor workers exposed to air pollution.
Benzo[c]fluorene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with mutagenic activity. It is a component of coal tar, cigarette smoke and smog and thought to be a major contributor to its carcinogenic properties. The mutagenicity of benzo[c]fluorene is mainly attributed to formation of metabolites that are reactive and capable of forming DNA adducts. According to the KEGG it is a group 3 carcinogen. Other names for benzo[c]fluorene are 7H-benzo[c]fluorene, 3,4-benzofluorene, and NSC 89264.
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.
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.
