This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kim, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Jeon, C. O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kim, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Jeon, C. O.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Kim, J. M.
Right arrow Articles by Jeon, C. O.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2008, p. 7313-7320, Vol. 74, No. 23
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01695-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Influence of Soil Components on the Biodegradation of Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and o-, m-, and p-Xylenes by the Newly Isolated Bacterium Pseudoxanthomonas spadix BD-a59 {triangledown}

Jeong Myeong Kim,1,{dagger} Ngoc Thuan Le,2,{dagger} Bok Sil Chung,1 Jin Ho Park,2 Jin-Woo Bae,3 Eugene L. Madsen,4 and Che Ok Jeon1*

Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, HeukSeok-Dong, Seoul 156-756, Republic of Korea,1 Environmental Biotechnology National Core Research Center, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 660-701, Republic of Korea,2 Biological Resource Center, KRIBB, Daejeon 305-806, Republic of Korea,3 Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-81014

Received 22 July 2008/ Accepted 30 September 2008

A bacterium designated strain BD-a59, able to degrade all six benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-, m-, and p-xylene (BTEX) compounds, was isolated by plating gasoline-contaminated sediment from a gasoline station in Geoje, Republic of Korea, without enrichment, on minimal salts basal (MSB) agar containing 0.01% yeast extract, with BTEX as the sole carbon and energy source. Taxonomic analyses showed that the isolate belonged to Pseudoxanthomonas spadix, and until now, the genus Pseudoxanthomonas has not included any known BTEX degraders. The BTEX biodegradation rate was very low in MSB broth, but adding a small amount of yeast extract greatly enhanced the biodegradation. Interestingly, degradation occurred very quickly in slurry systems amended with sterile soil solids but not with aqueous soil extract. Moreover, if soil was combusted first to remove organic matter, the enhancement effect on BTEX biodegradation was lost, indicating that some components of insoluble organic compounds are nutritionally beneficial for BTEX degradation. Reverse transcriptase PCR-based analysis of field-fixed mRNA revealed expression of the tmoA gene, whose sequence was closely related to that carried by strain BD-a59. This study suggests that strain BD-a59 has the potential to assist in BTEX biodegradation at contaminated sites.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Life Science, Chung-Ang University, 221 HeukSeok-Dong, Seoul 156-756, Republic of Korea. Phone: 82-2-820-5864. Fax: 82-2-821-8132. E-mail: cojeon{at}cau.ac.kr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 3 October 2008.

{dagger} J. M. Kim and N. T. Le contributed equally to these studies.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2008, p. 7313-7320, Vol. 74, No. 23
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01695-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Jeon, Y., Kim, J. M., Park, J. H., Lee, S. H., Seong, C.-N., Lee, S.-S., Jeon, C. O. (2009). Pedobacter oryzae sp. nov., isolated from rice paddy soil. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 59: 2491-2495 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»