Temporal changes in Sphingomonas and Mycobacterium populations in mangrove sediments contaminated with different concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Chuling Guo, Lin Ke, Zhi Dang, Nora Fungyee Tam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The change in community diversity and structure of the indigenous, dominant, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading bacterial genera, Sphingomonas and Mycobacterium, due to contamination in the environment is not very well known. A combination of PCR-DGGE with specific primers and a cultivation-dependent microbiological method was used to detect different populations of Sphingomonas and Mycobacterium in mangrove sediments. The structure of the entire bacterial community (including Sphingomonas) did not show a shift due to environmental contamination, whereas the diversity of Mycobacterium populations in mangrove sediments with higher PAH contamination increased from exposure between Day 0 and Day 30. The isolated Mycobacterium strains migrated to the same position as the major bands of the bacterial communities in Mycobacterium-specific DGGE. A dioxygenase gene system, nidA, which is commonly found in PAH-degrading Mycobacterium strains, was also detected in the more highly contaminated sediment slurries. The present study revealed that Mycobacterium species were the dominant PAH-degraders and played an important role in degrading PAHs in contaminated mangrove sediments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)133-139
Number of pages7
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume62
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Mangrove sediment
  • Microbial community structure
  • Mycobacterium
  • PAH-degrading bacteria
  • PAHs
  • Sphingomonas

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