Effects of PAH biodegradation in the presence of non-ionic surfactants on a bacterial community and its exoenzymatic activity

The influence of two non-ionic surfactants (TX-100 and Brij 35) on a bacterial community and its exoenzymatic activity during polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene) biodegradation was evaluated in this study. The result indicated the addition of the non-ionic surfactants altered the profiles of the microbial populations and produced exoenzymes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization found that, as PAH biodegradation progressed in the presence of non-ionic surfactant, the proportion of Bacteria presents increased significantly from the range 54.79%-57.00% to 64.17%-73.4% and there was parallel decrease in Archaea. The trends in five phyla/subclass of Bacteria, namely alpha-, beta-, or gamma-Proteobacteria, HGC bacteria and LGC bacteria, were influenced significantly by the addition of Brij 35 as either monomers or micelles. A change was ascribed to different cohesive energy density (CED) value between the PAH and surfactant. The percentage of genera Pseudomonas 4.76%-12.67%, which included two signals, namely most true Pseudomonas spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were dominant during biodegradation. For exoenzymaztic activities, trends were identified by principle component analysis of the API ZYM enzymatic activity dataset. The additions of non-ionic surfactant were identified strong activities of three esterase (esterase, esterase lipase and lipase), alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, leucine arylamidase and acid phosphatase during PAH biodegradation. These enzymes are selected as possible organic pollutant indicators when the in situ bioremediation was monitored in the presence of non- ionic surfactant additives.