Bioprospecting the potential of the microbial community associated to Antarctic marine sediments for hydrocarbon bioremediation

Microorganisms that inhabit the cold Antarctic environment can produce ligninolytic enzymes potentially useful in bioremediation. Our study focused on characterizing Antarctic bacteria and fungi from marine sediment samples of King George and Deception Islands, maritime Antarctica, potentially affected by hydrocarbon influence, able to produce enzymes for use in bioremediation processes in environments impacted with petroleum derivatives. A total of 168 microorganism isolates were obtained: 56 from sediments of King George Island and 112 from Deception Island. Among them, five bacterial isolates were tolerant to cell growth in the presence of diesel oil and gasoline and seven fungal were able to discolor RBBR dye. In addition, 16 isolates (15 bacterial and one fungal) displayed enzymatic emulsifying activities. Two isolates were characterized taxonomically by showing better biotechnological results. Psychrobacter sp. BAD17 and Cladosporium sp. FAR18 showed pyrene tolerance (cell growth of 0.03 g mL-1 and 0.2 g mL-1) and laccase enzymatic activity (0.006 UL-1 and 0.10 UL-1), respectively. Our results indicate that bacteria and fungi living in sediments under potential effect of hydrocarbon pollution may represent a promising alternative to bioremediate cold environments contaminated with polluting compounds derived from petroleum such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dyes.

Automated summary

Microorganisms in the cold Antarctic environment have the potential to produce ligninolytic enzymes that can be used in bioremediation. This study characterized bacteria and fungi from marine sediment samples from King George and Deception Islands in Antarctica, which may be affected by hydrocarbon pollution and able to produce enzymes for bioremediation processes. Certain isolates showed tolerance to diesel oil and gasoline, as well as enzymatic activities for dye degradation. Taxonomic characterization identified two isolates (Psychrobacter sp. BAD17 and Cladosporium sp. FAR18) with better biotechnological results, exhibiting pyrene tolerance and laccase enzymatic activity. These findings suggest that bacteria and fungi in sediments under potential hydrocarbon pollution can be used to bioremediate cold environments contaminated with petroleum derivatives and dyes.