Search results for "biodegradation"
showing 10 items of 317 documents
Naphthalene production by microorganisms associated with termites: Evidence from a microcosm experiment
2009
Abstract There have been several reports published which suggest that it is possible that the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) naphthalene (NAPH), phenanthrene (PHEN) and perylene (PERY) in tropical environments have a biological source. This source might be related to the activity of termites or their associated microorganisms. We aimed to provide direct evidence for the biological production of NAPH, PHEN and PERY by conducting microcosm experiments in the State of Tocantins, Brazil, in which termite nests (with or without termites) were placed in an enclosed environment in which we controlled all PAH fluxes and monitored changes of PAH stocks. The experiments were carried out with…
Importance of surface tension characterization for food, pharmaceutical and packaging products: a review.
2006
This article reviews the various theoretical approaches that have been developed for determination of the surface tension of solids, and the applications to food industrial products. The surface tension of a solid is a characteristic of surface properties and interfacial interactions such as adsorption, wetting or adhesion. The knowledge of surface tension is thus of great interest for every domain involved in understanding these mechanisms, which recover a lot of industrial investigations. Indeed, it is the case for the packaging industry, the food materials science, the biomedical applications and the pharmaceutical products, cleaning, adhesive technology, painting, coating and more gener…
Poplar rotation coppice at a trace element-contaminated phytomanagement site: A 10-year study revealing biomass production, element export and impact…
2019
Abstract Growing lignocellulosic crops on marginal lands could compose a substantial proportion of future energy resources. The potential of poplar was explored, by devising a field trial of two hectares in 2007 in a metal-contaminated site to quantify the genotypic variation in the growth traits of 14 poplar genotypes grown in short-rotation coppice and to assess element transfer and export by individual genotypes. Our data led us to conclusions about the genotypic variations in poplar growth on a moderately contaminated site, with the Vesten genotype being the most productive. This genotype also accumulated the least amounts of trace elements, whereas the Trichobel genotype accumulated up…
Hydrolysis and microbial community analyses in two-stage anaerobic digestion of energy crops
2007
Aims: The roles of the diverse populations of micro-organisms responsible for biodegradation of organic matter to form methane and carbon dioxide are rudimentarily understood. To expand the knowledge on links between microbial communities and the rate limiting, hydrolytic stage of two-stage biogas production from energy crops, this study was performed. Methods and Results: The process performance. and microbial communities (as determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization) in two separate two-stage batch digestions of sugar beets and grass/clover were studied. The microbial populations developed in the hydrolytic stage of anaerobic digestion of beets and grass/clover showed very few simi…
Two-Stage Anaerobic Digestion of Energy Crops: Methane Production, Nitrogen Mineralisation and Heavy Metal Mobilisation
2006
Energy crops (willow, sugar beet and grass silage) were digested in pilot scale two-stage anaerobic digesters. The specific methane yields obtained were 0.16, 0.38 and 0.39 m3 kg(-1) added volatile solids (VSadded) for willow, sugar beet and grass, respectively, corresponding to yearly gross energy yields of 15, 53 and 26 megawatt-hours (MWh) per hectare. With grass and sugar beets as substrate, 84-85% of the harvestable methane was obtained within 30 days. In pilot scale two-stage digestion of willow and sugar beet, 56 and 85% of the laboratory scale methane yields were obtained, but digestion of grass in two-stage reactors yielded 5% more methane than digestion in laboratory scale complet…
Phosphorus NMR as a tool to study mineralization of organophosphonates—The ability of Spirulina spp. to degrade glyphosate
2007
Abstract A commercially available mixed culture of Spirulina spp. exhibited a remarkable ability to degrade the widely used organophosphorus herbicide glyphosate, that served as sole source of either phosphorus or nitrogen for cyanobacterial growth. 31P NMR analysis of spent media appeared to be an effective and simple technique to follow disappearance of the phosphonate and release of inorganic phosphate in biodegradation process(es).
Taxonomic and functional diversity of atrazine‐degrading bacterial communities enriched from agrochemical factory soil
2010
Aims: To characterize atrazine-degrading potential of bacterial communities enriched from agrochemical factory soil by analysing diversity and organization of catabolic genes. Methods and Results: The bacterial communities enriched from three different sites of varying atrazine contamination mineralized 65–80% of 14C ring-labelled atrazine. The presence of trzN-atzBC-trzD, trzN-atzABC-trzD and trzN-atzABCDEF-trzD gene combinations was determined by PCR. In all enriched communities, trzN-atzBC genes were located on a 165-kb plasmid, while atzBC or atzC genes were located on separated plasmids. Quantitative PCR revealed that catabolic genes were present in up to 4% of the community. Restricti…
Genetic potential, diversity and activity of an atrazine-degrading community enriched from a herbicide factory effluent
2008
Aims: To characterize an atrazine-degrading bacterial community enriched from the wastewater of a herbicide factory. Methods and Results: The community mineralized 81·4 ± 1·9% of [14C-ring]atrazine and 31·0 ± 1·8% of [14C-ethyl]atrazine within 6 days of batch cultivation in mineral salts medium containing atrazine as the sole nitrogen source. Degradation activity of the community towards different chloro- and methylthio-substituted s-triazine compounds was also demonstrated. Restriction analysis of amplified 16S rDNA revealed high diversity of bacterial populations forming the community, with Pseudomonas species dominating in the clone library. Atrazine-degrading genetic potential of the …
Molecular analysis of the catechol-degrading bacterial community in a coal wasteland heavily contaminated with PAHs
2010
International audience; A PCR-based molecular tool was developed to estimate the diversity of the catechol-degrading bacterial community in a coal wasteland heavily contaminated with PAHS. A degenerate primer pair specific to catA sequences was designed by multiple alignment of known sequences coding a key intermediate of the β-ketoadiapate pathway degrading catechol, namely catechol 1,2-dioxygenase. The specificity of this primer pair was assessed in 21 pure strains by PCR and sequencing. Comparison of the 16S rDNA and catA phylogenies revealed an absence of congruence between these two genes. The primer set was able to amplify catA sequences in DNA extracts from an industrial soil highly …
Detection and organization of atrazine-degrading genetic potential of seventeen bacterial isolates belonging to divergent taxa indicate a recent comm…
2007
A collection of 17 atrazine-degrading bacteria isolated from soils was studied to determine the composition of the atrazine-degrading genetic potential (i.e. trzN, trzD and atz) and the presence of IS1071. The characterization of seven new atrazine-degrading bacteria revealed for the first time the trzN-atzBC gene composition in Gram-negative bacteria such as Sinorhizobium sp. or Polaromonas sp. Three main atrazine-degrading gene combinations (i) trzN– atzBC, (ii) atzABC– trzD and (iii) atzABCDEF were observed. The atz and trz genes were often located on plasmids, suggesting that plasmid conjugation could play an important role in their dispersion. In addition, the observation of these gene…