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Biodegradation of Leonardite by an Alkali-producing bacterial community and characterization of the degraded products

  • Applied Microbial and Cell Physiology
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Abstract

In this study, three bacterial communities were obtained from 12 Leonardite samples with the aim of identifying a clean, effective, and economic technique for the dissolution of Leonardite, a type of low-grade coal, in the production of humic acid (HA). The biodegradation ability and characteristics of the degraded products of the most effective bacterial community (MCSL-2), which degraded 50% of the Leonardite within 21 days, were further investigated. Analyses of elemental composition, 13C NMR, and Fourier transform infrared revealed that the contents of C, O, and aliphatic carbon were similar in biodegraded humic acid (bHA) and chemically (alkali) extracted humic acid (cHA). However, the N and carboxyl carbon contents of bHA was higher than that of cHA. Furthermore, a positive correlation was identified between the degradation efficiency and the increasing pH of the culture medium, while increases of manganese peroxidase and esterase activities were also observed. These data demonstrated that both alkali production and enzyme reactions were involved in Leonardite solubilization by MCSL-2, although the former mechanism predominated. No fungus was observed by microscopy. Only four bacterial phylotypes were recognized, and Bacillus licheniformis-related bacteria were identified as the main group in MCSL-2 by analysis of amplified 16S rRNA genes, thus demonstrating that Leonardite degradation ability has a limited distribution in bacteria. Hormone-like bioactivities of bHA were also detected. In this study, a bacterial community capable of Leonardite degradation was identified and the products characterized. These data implicate the use of such bacteria for the exploitation of Leonardite as a biofertilizer.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partly supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (the 863 program, no. 2003AA241170).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab for Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences and Center of Biomass Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Tong-Guo Gao, Feng Jiang, Jin-Shui Yang, Bao-Zhen Li & Hong-Li Yuan

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  1. Tong-Guo Gao
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  2. Feng Jiang
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  3. Jin-Shui Yang
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Correspondence to Hong-Li Yuan.

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Gao, TG., Jiang, F., Yang, JS. et al. Biodegradation of Leonardite by an Alkali-producing bacterial community and characterization of the degraded products. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 93, 2581–2590 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3669-5

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