Bioaugmentation of bromoamine acid degradation with Sphingomonas xenophaga QYY and DNA fingerprint analysis of augmented systems

One high-effective bromoamine acid (1-amino-4-bromoanthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid, BAA) degrading strain was isolated previously with the ability to use BAA as sole source of carbon and nitrogen. It was identified as Sphingomonas xenophaga QYY by 16S rDNA sequence analysis and physio-biochemical tests. In this study, bioaugmentation of BAA degradation with suspended and immobilized cells of strain QYY was investigated. The optimal degradation conditions were as follows: temperature 30 degrees C, pH 6.0-7.0, 150 rev min(-1) and the immobilized cells maintained degradation activity to BAA after 60 days storage at 4 degrees C. The structure of BAA was evidently changed according to the analysis of total organic carbon removal of BAA (about 50%) and the UV-VIS spectra changes during the biodegradation. Bioaugmented systems exhibited stronger abilities degrading BAA than the non-bioaugmented control ones. And microbial community dynamics of augmented systems was revealed by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA), a modern DNA fingerprint technique. The results indicated that the microbial community dynamics was substantially changed throughout the augmentation process. This study suggests that it is feasible and potentially useful to enhance BAA degradation using bioaugmentation with the immobilized cells of BAA-degrading bacterium.