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Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Phytoremediation is a plant-based approach to extract, stabilise, eliminate, or render pollutants into less harmful form. The study highlights the use of a native polar microalga as a means of phytoremediation in Antarctica where imported microbes are prohibited. Since 1959, Antarcti...

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Autores principales: Lim, Zheng Syuen, Wong, Chiew-Yen, Ahmad, Siti Aqlima, Puasa, Nurul Aini, Phang, Lai Yee, Shaharuddin, Noor Azmi, Merican, Faradina, Convey, Peter, Zulkharnain, Azham, Shaari, Hasrizal, Azmi, Alyza Azzura, Kok, Yih-Yih, Gomez-Fuentes, Claudio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10452857/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37627026
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology12081142
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author Lim, Zheng Syuen
Wong, Chiew-Yen
Ahmad, Siti Aqlima
Puasa, Nurul Aini
Phang, Lai Yee
Shaharuddin, Noor Azmi
Merican, Faradina
Convey, Peter
Zulkharnain, Azham
Shaari, Hasrizal
Azmi, Alyza Azzura
Kok, Yih-Yih
Gomez-Fuentes, Claudio
author_facet Lim, Zheng Syuen
Wong, Chiew-Yen
Ahmad, Siti Aqlima
Puasa, Nurul Aini
Phang, Lai Yee
Shaharuddin, Noor Azmi
Merican, Faradina
Convey, Peter
Zulkharnain, Azham
Shaari, Hasrizal
Azmi, Alyza Azzura
Kok, Yih-Yih
Gomez-Fuentes, Claudio
author_sort Lim, Zheng Syuen
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Phytoremediation is a plant-based approach to extract, stabilise, eliminate, or render pollutants into less harmful form. The study highlights the use of a native polar microalga as a means of phytoremediation in Antarctica where imported microbes are prohibited. Since 1959, Antarctica has been a protected region to preserve its dynamic ecosystems, but it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and pollution. One of the anthropogenic disturbances in the continent is diesel spillage. Due to the extreme polar environment, natural attenuation of spilled diesel is severely hindered; hence, the problem calls for an effective and sustainable solution. This laboratory study proved that Antarctic microalga was capable of removing diesel (57.6%) through biodegradation and biosorption in the span of nine days. Meanwhile, mixotrophic cultivation triggered the vacuolar activities and potentially stimulated lipid assimilation in the cells. The microalgal-based process offers a cheap alternative in water decontamination while bearing the economic potential through the secretion of valuable products, such as biolipids. ABSTRACT: Microalgae are well known for their metal sorption capacities, but their potential in the remediation of hydrophobic organic compounds has received little attention in polar regions. We evaluated in the laboratory the ability of an Antarctic microalga to remediate diesel hydrocarbons and also investigated physiological changes consequent upon diesel exposure. Using a polyphasic taxonomic approach, the microalgal isolate, WCY_AQ5_1, originally sampled from Greenwich Island (South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctica) was identified as Tritostichococcus sp. (OQ225631), a recently erected lineage within the redefined Stichococcus clade. Over a nine-day experimental incubation, 57.6% of diesel (~3.47 g/L) was removed via biosorption and biodegradation, demonstrating the strain’s potential for phytoremediation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the adsorption of oil in accordance with its hydrophobic characteristics. Overall, degradation predominated over sorption of diesel. Chromatographic analysis confirmed that the strain efficiently metabolised medium-chain length n-alkanes (C-7 to C-21), particularly n-heneicosane. Mixotrophic cultivation using diesel as the organic carbon source under a constant light regime altered the car/chl-a ratio and triggered vacuolar activities. A small number of intracellular lipid droplets were observed on the seventh day of cultivation in transmission electron microscopic imaging. This is the first confirmation of diesel remediation ability in an Antarctic green microalga.
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spelling pubmed-104528572023-08-26 Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation Lim, Zheng Syuen Wong, Chiew-Yen Ahmad, Siti Aqlima Puasa, Nurul Aini Phang, Lai Yee Shaharuddin, Noor Azmi Merican, Faradina Convey, Peter Zulkharnain, Azham Shaari, Hasrizal Azmi, Alyza Azzura Kok, Yih-Yih Gomez-Fuentes, Claudio Biology (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Phytoremediation is a plant-based approach to extract, stabilise, eliminate, or render pollutants into less harmful form. The study highlights the use of a native polar microalga as a means of phytoremediation in Antarctica where imported microbes are prohibited. Since 1959, Antarctica has been a protected region to preserve its dynamic ecosystems, but it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and pollution. One of the anthropogenic disturbances in the continent is diesel spillage. Due to the extreme polar environment, natural attenuation of spilled diesel is severely hindered; hence, the problem calls for an effective and sustainable solution. This laboratory study proved that Antarctic microalga was capable of removing diesel (57.6%) through biodegradation and biosorption in the span of nine days. Meanwhile, mixotrophic cultivation triggered the vacuolar activities and potentially stimulated lipid assimilation in the cells. The microalgal-based process offers a cheap alternative in water decontamination while bearing the economic potential through the secretion of valuable products, such as biolipids. ABSTRACT: Microalgae are well known for their metal sorption capacities, but their potential in the remediation of hydrophobic organic compounds has received little attention in polar regions. We evaluated in the laboratory the ability of an Antarctic microalga to remediate diesel hydrocarbons and also investigated physiological changes consequent upon diesel exposure. Using a polyphasic taxonomic approach, the microalgal isolate, WCY_AQ5_1, originally sampled from Greenwich Island (South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctica) was identified as Tritostichococcus sp. (OQ225631), a recently erected lineage within the redefined Stichococcus clade. Over a nine-day experimental incubation, 57.6% of diesel (~3.47 g/L) was removed via biosorption and biodegradation, demonstrating the strain’s potential for phytoremediation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the adsorption of oil in accordance with its hydrophobic characteristics. Overall, degradation predominated over sorption of diesel. Chromatographic analysis confirmed that the strain efficiently metabolised medium-chain length n-alkanes (C-7 to C-21), particularly n-heneicosane. Mixotrophic cultivation using diesel as the organic carbon source under a constant light regime altered the car/chl-a ratio and triggered vacuolar activities. A small number of intracellular lipid droplets were observed on the seventh day of cultivation in transmission electron microscopic imaging. This is the first confirmation of diesel remediation ability in an Antarctic green microalga. MDPI 2023-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC10452857/ /pubmed/37627026 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology12081142 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Lim, Zheng Syuen
Wong, Chiew-Yen
Ahmad, Siti Aqlima
Puasa, Nurul Aini
Phang, Lai Yee
Shaharuddin, Noor Azmi
Merican, Faradina
Convey, Peter
Zulkharnain, Azham
Shaari, Hasrizal
Azmi, Alyza Azzura
Kok, Yih-Yih
Gomez-Fuentes, Claudio
Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation
title Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation
title_full Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation
title_fullStr Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation
title_full_unstemmed Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation
title_short Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation
title_sort harnessing diesel-degrading potential of an antarctic microalga from greenwich island and its physiological adaptation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10452857/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37627026
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology12081142
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