Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
is actively occurring, the responsible organism appears to be a
Bulkholde-
ria
-type organism, which is difficult to grow in the laboratory (Laurie and
Lloyd-Jones, 2000). Again, it must be emphasized that these studies find
bacteria that seem to grow well on phenanthrene and fluorene but with a
limited ability to grow on or cometabolize HMW PAHs.
A number of studies have shown that bacteria are able to grow on the
four-ring PAHs, specifically fluoranthene (Boldrin et al., 1993; Dagher et al.,
1996; Kastner et al., 1994; Lloyd-Jones and Hunter, 1997; Mueller et al., 1990;
Mueller et al., 1994; Weissenfels et al., 1991) and pyrene (Boldrin et al., 1993;
Churchill et al., 1999; Dean-Ross and Cerniglia, 1996; Fritzsche, 1994; Grosser
et al., 1991; Heitkamp et al., 1988a, 1988b; Jimenez and Bartha, 1996; Kastner
et al., 1994; Lloyd-Jones and Hunter, 1997; Rehmann et al., 1998; Schneider
et al., 1996).
Mycobacterium
,
Rhodococcus
,
Alcaligenes
, and
Sphingomonas
are
the genera commonly encountered. Results from a phylogenic study with a
variety of
Pseudomonas
and
Sphingomonas
strains isolated from PAH-contam-
inated soils show that these two groups can be separated, to some extent,
based on their physiological characteristics (Biolog
®
Identification System)
and fatty acid compositions. The Biolog results are shown in Figure 7.3,
modified from Mueller et al. (1997). The symbols represent different soil
samples used for isolation, and the numbers refer to strain designations. The
cluster in the upper left (7-10, 15-17) consisted entirely of phenanthrene
21
0.67
28
10
3
8
16
9
15
2
14
0.21
7
20
17
P3
13
26
−
0.26
27
4
25
11
1
12
18
24
6
5
23
29
19
−0.72
0.92
22
1.79
0.15
0.86
−
0.06
P1
−
0.62
P2
−
0.98
−
1.40
Figure 7.3
Balloon plot of principal components analysis of Biolog responses from
PAH-degrading isolates. (Modified from Mueller, J.G. et al.,
Environ. Sci. Technol
., 25,
1055-1061, 1991a; Mueller, J.G. et al.,
Environ. Sci. Technol
., 25, 1045-1055, 1991b.)
