Stress

Electronic Journal of Biotechnology ISSN: 0717-3458 Vol. 9 No. 3, Special Issue, 2006
© 2006 by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile  
DOI: 10.2225/vol9-issue3-fulltext-12  
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Chlorinated biphenyl degradation by wild yeasts pre-cultured in biphasic systems

M. Cristina Romero*
Micología Médica e Industrial, Microbiología
Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Av. 60 e/ 119 y 120 s/nro., 1900
La Plata, Argentina
Tel: 0054 221 425 0577
Fax: 0054 221 422 2904
E-mail: cmriar@yahoo.com.ar

Enso Hugo Reinoso
Micología Médica e Industrial, Microbiología
Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Av. 60 e/ 119 y 120 s/nro., 1900
La Plata, Argentina
Tel: 0054 221 4247642
E-mail: reinoso@fcv.unlp.edu.ar

Alejandro Moreno Kiernan
Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Av. 60 e/ 119 y 120 s/nro., 1900
La Plata, Argentina
Tel: 0054 221 4250577
E-mail: cmriar@yahoo.com.ar

M. Inés Urrutia
Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Av. 60 e/ 119 y 120 s/nro., 1900
La Plata, Argentina
Tel: 0054 221 4835934
E-mail: urrutia@isis.unlp.edu.ar

*Corresponding author

Financial support: This work was supported by grants from the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) and from the National University of La Plata (UNLP- Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias), Argentina.

Keywords: biphasic system, fungal adaptation, increased solubilities, transformation rates, yeasts communities.

Abbreviations:

µ: specific growth rate
µmax: maximum specific growth rate
DCB: 2,4-dichlorobiphenyl
GC: gas chromatography
Ki: inhibition constant
Ks: saturation constant
MSM: mineral salts medium
OD: optical density
PCBs: polychlorinated biphenyls
S: substrate level
TCB-3': 2,3',4- trichlorobiphenyl
TCB-4': 2,4',5-trichlorobiphenyl

Abstract   Reprint (PDF)

Environmental biotechnology has developed as an offshoot from sanitary engineering, and only recently the biological component of the ecosystems had been recognized as relevant when bioremediation strategies must be chosen to solve environmental problems. Yeasts were isolated on 2,4-dichlorobiphenyl, 2,3',4- and 2,4',5-trichlorobiphenyl, poorly soluble compounds in water, as carbon sources. Debaryomyces castelli, Debaryomyces maramus and Dipodascus aggregatus composed the mixed culture and represented 72% of the isolates; their degradation potential were studied in biphasic and monophasic systems. The biphasic cultures were obtained with phenol as the organic phase and MSM as the aqueous ones, the monophasic medium only with MSM. Both cultures were supplied with 50, 100, 150 and 200 ppm DCB, TCB-3' and TCB-4' as substrate. The growth rates varied with the dispersion degree, agitation rates and cell adhesion to the organic phase. The water-phenolic system improved yeasts selection in pollutant presence with low water solubilities, indeed, the adaptation and degradation were more slowly in the monophasic aqueous medium. Bioremediation is based on the presence of efficient microbial populations and pollutant availability; the tested yeasts and the organic-water system assayed put forward the possibility that hydrophobic substrates could be mineralized in natural habitats by wild yeast consortium.

Supported by UNESCO / MIRCEN network