Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 1;11(2):143.
doi: 10.3390/toxics11020143.

Microbial Removal of Petroleum Hydrocarbons from Contaminated Soil under Arsenic Stress

Qu Su  1   2 , Jiang Yu  1   2   3 , Kaiqin Fang  2   4 , Panyue Dong  1   2 , Zheyong Li  1   2 , Wuzhu Zhang  2   4 , Manxia Liu  1   2 , Luojing Xiang  1   2 , Junxiong Cai  1   2
Affiliations

Microbial Removal of Petroleum Hydrocarbons from Contaminated Soil under Arsenic Stress

Qu Su et al. Toxics. .

Abstract

The contamination of soils with petroleum and its derivatives is a longstanding, widespread, and worsening environmental issue. However, efforts to remediate petroleum hydrocarbon-polluted soils often neglect or overlook the interference of heavy metals that often co-contaminate these soils and occur in petroleum itself. Here, we identified Acinetobacter baumannii strain JYZ-03 according to its Gram staining, oxidase reaction, biochemical tests, and FAME and 16S rDNA gene sequence analyses and determined that it has the ability to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons. It was isolated from soil contaminated by both heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons. Strain JYZ-03 utilized diesel oil, long-chain n-alkanes, branched alkanes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as its sole carbon sources. It degraded 93.29% of the diesel oil burden in 7 days. It also had a high tolerance to heavy metal stress caused by arsenic (As). Its petroleum hydrocarbon degradation efficiency remained constant over the 0-300 mg/L As(V) range. Its optimal growth conditions were pH 7.0 and 25-30 °C, respectively, and its growth was not inhibited even by 3.0% (w/v) NaCl. Strain JYZ-03 effectively bioremediates petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soil in the presence of As stress. Therefore, strain JYZ-03 may be of high value in petroleum- and heavy-metal-contaminated site bioremediation.

Keywords: bioremediation; heavy metal stress; petroleum hydrocarbon removal; soil pollution.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Photographs of cell of strain JYZ-03. (a,b) Gram stain photo of JYZ-03 (×20 microscopic view; ×100 microscopic view); (c,d) Scanning electron microscope photo of JYZ-03 (5.00 μm SEM; 1.00 μm SEM).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree of soil bacterial strains capable of degrading total petroleum hydrocarbons.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of environmental factors on diesel oil removal by strain JYZ-03. (A) pH; (B) incubation temperature; (C) NaCl concentration (%); (D) inoculum concentration. The experiments of “TPH degradation efficiency” were performed in MSM medium, and the experiments of the “Turbidity” (OD600) were performed in LB medium.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of different heavy metal concentrations on strain JYZ-03 growth and petroleum hydrocarbon degradation. (A) Effects of As(V) on strain JYZ-03 growth; (B) petroleum hydrocarbon degradation by strain JYZ-03 at various As concentrations; (C) effects of Pb2+ on strain JYZ-03 growth; (D) petroleum hydrocarbon degradation by strain JYZ-03 at various Pb2+ concentrations.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of heavy metals in removal of hydrocarbon-polluted soils by JYZ-03 strain. Closed squares, soil polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons; closed circles, soil polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons plus As(V); closed triangles, sterilized soil polluted without inoculation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Czarny J., Staninska-Pięta J., Piotrowska-Cyplik A., Juzwa W., Wolniewicz A., Marecik R., Ławniczak Ł., Chrzanowski Ł. Acinetobacter sp. as the key player in diesel oil degrading community exposed to PAHs and heavy metals. J. Hazard. Mater. 2020;383:121–168. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121168. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Khan M.A.I., Biswas B., Smith E., Naidu R., Megharaj M. Toxicity assessment of fresh and weathered petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated soil—A review. Chemosphere. 2018;212:755–767. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.08.094. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adeniyi A., Afolabi J.A. Determination of total petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals in soils within the vicinity of facilities handling refined petroleum products in Lagos metropolis. Environ. Int. 2002;28:79–82. doi: 10.1016/S0160-4120(02)00007-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Osuji C., Onojake C.M. Trace heavy metals associated with crude oil: A case study of ebocha-8 oil-spill-polluted site in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Chem. Biodivers. 2004;1:1708–1715. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.200490129. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Verla A., Opara A.I., Enyoh C.E., Ngozi V.E., Natheniel C.O., Kingsley O.U., Chizoruo I.F., Amaka A.P. Petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals risk of consuming fish species from Oguta Lake, Imo State, Nigeria. J. Chem. Health Risks. 2021;1:1–15.