Enhanced degradation of different crude oils by defined engineered consortia of Acinetobacter venetianus RAG-1 mutants based on their alkane metabolism.

Jia Liu, Bo Zhao, Yazheng Lan, Ting Ma

Bioresource technology 2021 May

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Microbial consortia offer an attractive biodegradation strategy for removing hydrocarbons from oil-contaminated sites. In this study, we explored the degradation properties of Acinetobacter venetianus strain RAG-1 (RAG-1). RAG-1 effectively degrades three crude oils with excellent emulsification activity and cell surface hydrophobicity, while exhibiting broad environmental tolerance. RAG-1 accepts a range of alkane substrates (C10-C38) using three alkane hydroxylases (AlkMa, AlkMb, and AlmA). Bacterial mutant with alkMa or alkMb deletion enhanced degradation of C10-C20 or C22-C32 n-alkanes, respectively. Based on the substrate metabolism of the mutants, adjustable and targeted consortia consisting of ΔalkMa/almA and ΔalkMb were constructed, achieving enhanced degradation (10 days) of light crude oil (73.42% to 88.65%), viscous crude oil (68.40% to 90.05%), and high waxy crude oil (47.46% to 60.52%) compared with the single wild-type strain. The degradation properties of RAG-1 and the engineered consortia strategy may have potential use in microbial biodegradation applications. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Jia Liu, Bo Zhao, Yazheng Lan, Ting Ma. Enhanced degradation of different crude oils by defined engineered consortia of Acinetobacter venetianus RAG-1 mutants based on their alkane metabolism. Bioresource technology. 2021 May;327:124787