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Biosurfactant production by the crude oil degrading Stenotrophomonas sp. B-2: chemical characterization, biological activities and environmental applications

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Abstract

In this work, biosurfactant-producing microorganisms were isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated water collected from Tunisian oilfield. After enrichment and isolation, different bacterial strains were preliminary studied for their biosurfactant/bioemulsifier properties when using crude oil as the unique carbon source. In particular, the isolate strain B-2, a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium, efficiently emulsified crude oil. The extracellular biosurfactant product from this strain presented an emulsification activity above 70% and a hydrophobicity of 71%. In addition, a diameter of 6 cm was observed in the oil displacement test. The characterization of B-2 strain using 16S rDNA sequencing enables us to find a high degree of similarity with various members of the genus Stenotrophomonas (with a percentage of similarity of 99%). The emulsification activity of Stenotrophomonas biosurfactant B-2 was maintained in a wide range of pH (2 to 6), temperature (4 to 55 °C), and salinity (0 to 50 g L−1) conditions. It also enhanced the solubility of phenanthrene in water and could be used in the re-mobilization of hydrocarbon-contaminated environment. In addition, this biosurfactant exhibited antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Infrared spectroscopy suggested potential lipidic and peptidic moieties, and mass spectrometry-based analyses showed that the biosurfactant contains mainly cyclic peptidic structures belonging to the class of diketopiperazines. Therefore, the B-2 strain is a promising biosurfactant-producing microorganism and its derived biosurfactant presents a wide range of industrial applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Sami Mnif from the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Screening Processes (Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax, University of Sfax, PO Box “1177”, 3018 Sfax, Tunisia) for the revision of the Biosurfactant section. The authors would like also to thank the “Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique” (Laboratory LR14ES08), Tunisia, for its financial support to this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Electrochimie et Environnement, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Université de Sfax, BP 1173, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Boutheina Gargouri, Sonda Ammar & Mohamed Bouaziz

  2. Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Sfax, Université de Sfax, BP 1175, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Boutheina Gargouri & Mohamed Bouaziz

  3. Research and Development Functional Food Centre (CIDAF), Bioregión Building, Health Science Technological Park, Avda. del Conocimiento s/n, 18016, Granada, Spain

    María del Mar Contreras & Antonio Segura-Carretero

  4. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Avda. Fuentenueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain

    María del Mar Contreras & Antonio Segura-Carretero

  5. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Campus of Rabanales, University of Córdoba, 14071, Córdoba, Spain

    María del Mar Contreras

Authors
  1. Boutheina Gargouri
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  2. María del Mar Contreras
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  3. Sonda Ammar
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  4. Antonio Segura-Carretero
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  5. Mohamed Bouaziz
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Correspondence to María del Mar Contreras.

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Responsible editor: Robert Duran

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Gargouri, B., Contreras, M.d.M., Ammar, S. et al. Biosurfactant production by the crude oil degrading Stenotrophomonas sp. B-2: chemical characterization, biological activities and environmental applications. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 3769–3779 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-8064-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-8064-4

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