Journal of Bacteriology & Parasitology

Isolation and Identification of potential PAH degrading Bacterial Species from the Diep- and Plankenburg Rivers, Western Cape, South Africa

3^rd International Congress on Bacteriology and Infectious Diseases

August 04-06, 2015 Valencia, Spain

Vanessa Jackson, Oluwadara Alegbeleye and Beatrice Opeolu

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Bacteriol Parasitol

Abstract:

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons have been shown to be carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic. PAHs can enter
environmental matrices via natural and anthropogenic sources from agricultural and industrial activities. The aim of this
study was to isolate and identify potential PAH-degrading microorganisms from the Diep- and Plankenburg Rivers, Western
Cape, South Africa. Water and sediment samples were collected monthly over a six month period at six sampling points (three
sampling points along each of the Rivers) and kept on ice at 4 OC during transport.
For phenotypic identification, standard cultivation on various general and selective media, including Nutrient and
Aeromonas isolation agars, as well as Pseudomonas-isolation Agar Base, amongst others, were employed. Each isolate was
screened for PAH degradation (acenaphthene, fluorene) using shaking flasks prior to isolation and identification. After
screening and cultivation, nineteen isolates were selected and molecularly identified using 16S rRNA extraction followed by
primer-specific PCR amplification.
The predominant species identified included Raoutella ornithinolytica, Serratia marcescens, Bacillus megaterium and
Aeromonas hydrophila. Raoutella ornithinolytica was isolated from most of the media utilised, including Pseudomonas Agar
Base supplemented with CFC and Pseudomonas Agar Base supplemented with CN, while Aeromonas hydrophila grew on all
culture media except Pseudomonas Agar Base. Raoutella ornithinolytica is a member of the Enterobacteriaceae while Aeromonas
sp. closely resembles Enterobacteriaceae, which could account for its growth on most media. Bacterial species that display
tolerance to these compounds could have great beneficial effects in the area of bioremediation of PAH-contaminated sites.

Biography :

Vanessa Jackson completed her PhD at the age of 32 years from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa. She is currently a senior
lecturer in the Biotechnology Programme in the Department of Biotechnology and Consumer Science and is co-pi of the Bioresource Engineering Research Group
(BioERG) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She has published 12 peer-reviewed accredited scientific publications as both main and co-author and
is supervising several Masters and PhD students.