AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Application of genomic tools in bioremediation of atrazine contaminated soil and groundwater

by Aura Nousiainen




Institution: University of Helsinki
Department: Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of agriculture and Forestry; Finnish Environment Institute, Marine Research Centre
Year: 2015
Keywords: ympäristömikrobiologia
Record ID: 1132587
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/152803


Abstract

The use of pesticides has allowed the efficient use of agricultural soil and provided humans with greater yields and agri-food security. Unfortunately, many pesticides have also adverse effects to the environment or human health, and may end up where they were not intended: the precious groundwater reserves. The use of atrazine, a herbicide used for controlling broad-leaf weeds, was banned in the EU for this reason in 2004, but is still globally one of the most widely used herbicides today. Although atrazine can be completely mineralized by microbes, in the subsurface, slow or incomplete degradation of atrazine is often observed. The ability of atrazine degradation by microbes can be utilized in bioremediation, a technique in which contaminants are removed by microbial activity. This study was undertaken to elucidate the potential use of genetic tools, such as quantitative PCR (qPCR), radiorespirometry, microautoradiography (MAR), clone libraries and genetic fingerprinting methods, in atrazine contaminated soils, and to apply them in atrazine bioremediation. Collaboration with our Indian partner permitted comparison between atrazine treated, cropped agricultural soils and boreal subsoil contaminated two decades ago with residual atrazine from weed control in municipal areas. Four different bioremediation methods, natural attenuation, bioaugmentation, biostimulation, and their combination, were used to reduce atrazine concentration in soil. Atrazine degradation copy numbers often reflected the atrazine degradation potential, indicating their robustness as monitoring tools in different soils. The most efficient bioremediation treatment was bioaugmentation by atrazine degrading bacterial strains Pseudomonas citronellolis or Arthrobacter aurescens, or by an atrazine degrading bacterial consortium: in the agricultural soil, up to 90% of atrazine was degraded in less than a week, whereas in the boreal subsoil, 76% of atrazine was mineralized. In the clone library constructed from boreal soil, several clones related to taxa which include known atrazine degraders were found. In this soil, biostimulation with additional carbon was an efficient treatment at reduced temperature. In general, the efficiency of atrazine removal in different treatments was bioaugmentation and biostimulation > bioaugmentation > biostimulation > natural attenuation. Previous exposure to atrazine was the most influential factor in atrazine disappearance from soil, as recent exposure always correlated with faster atrazine degradation, and greatly affected the composition of the microbial community, elucidated by LH-PCR. These results serve as an example on how soil origin, exposure history, organic content and use must be taken into account while choosing the best bioremediation method. Knowledge on the presence of genetic degradation potential can be helpful in choosing the treatment method. While bioaugmentation removed 90% of atrazine from soil, its application in field scale may be challenging. Our results show, that biostimulation alone may…