ABSTRACT

Three bacterial species related to the genus Thalassospira (T. lucentensis, T. xianhensis and T. profundimaris), isolated from polluted sediment and seawater samples collected from Priolo Bay (eastern coast of Sicily, Ionian Sea), were analyzed for their biotechnological potential. For this purpose, the presence of specific catabolic genes associated to aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon metabolism, the production of biosurfactants and emulsification activity, the capability to degrade oil-derived linear, branched, cyclic alkanes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were evaluated. Alkane hydroxylase gene (alkano-monoxygenase alkb and citocrome P450) were present in genome of all strains, confirming their hydrocarbons degrading capability. All strains of Thalassospira produced biosurfactants and showed emulsification activity. The two-dimensional gas chromatography analysis (GC×GC) showed that they were able to degrade oil fractions with the capacity ranging between 77% and 91%. The data obtained in this study demonstrated the biodegradation ability of Thalassospira and suggest that these strains play an important role in marine contaminated ecosystems

摘要

分析了从普里奥洛湾（西西里岛东海岸，爱奥尼亚海）收集的污染沉积物和海水样品中分离出的与海螺属（T. lucentensis、T. xianhensis和T. profundimaris ）相关的三种细菌物种的生物技术潜力。为此，评估了与脂肪烃和芳香烃代谢相关的特定分解代谢基因的存在、生物表面活性剂的产生和乳化活性、降解油衍生的直链、支链、环状烷烃和多环芳烃 (PAH) 的能力。烷烃羟化酶基因（alkano-monoxygenase alkb and citocrome P450) 存在于所有菌株的基因组中，证实了它们的碳氢化合物降解能力。所有海藻属菌株均产生生物表面活性剂并显示出乳化活性。二维气相色谱分析（GC×GC）表明，它们能够降解油馏分，容量在 77% 到 91% 之间。本研究中获得的数据证明了海螺的生物降解能力，并表明这些菌株在海洋污染生态系统中发挥着重要作用