Decolorization of acid and basic dyes: understanding the metabolic degradation and cell-induced adsorption/precipitation by Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli strain DH5 alpha was successfully employed in the decolorization of commercial anthraquinone and azo dyes, belonging to the general classes of acid or basic dyes. The bacteria showed an aptitude to survive at different pH values on any dye solution tested, and a rapid decolorization was obtained under aerobic conditions for the whole collection of dyes. A deep investigation about the mode of action of E. coli was carried out to demonstrate that dye decolorization mainly occurred via three different pathways, specifically bacterial induced precipitation, cell wall adsorption, and metabolism, whose weight was correlated with the chemical nature of the dye. In the case of basic azo dyes, an unexpected fast decolorization was observed after just 2-h postinoculation under aerobic conditions, suggesting that metabolism was the main mechanism involved in basic azo dye degradation, as unequivocally demonstrated by mass spectrometric analysis. The reductive cleavage of the azo group by E. coli on basic azo dyes was also further demonstrated by the inhibition of decolorization occurring when glucose was added to the dye solution. Moreover, no residual toxicity was found in the E. coli-treated basic azo dye solutions by performing Daphnia magna acute toxicity assays. The results of the present study demonstrated that E. coli can be simply exploited for its natural metabolic pathways, without applying any recombinant technology. The high versatility and adaptability of this bacterium could encourage its involvement in industrial bioremediation of textile and leather dyeing wastewaters.