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Assessment of s-Triazine Catabolic Potential in Soil Bacterial Isolates Applying atz Genes as Functional Biomarkers

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Abstract

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique and qPCR analyses, targeting atz genes, were applied to detect the presence of simazine-degrading bacteria in an agricultural soil with a history of herbicide application. atzB-targeted bacteria detected by FISH represented 5% of total soil bacteria with potential capability to metabolize the herbicide. The soil natural attenuation capacity was confirmed in soil microcosms by measuring simazine degradation. Moreover, four bacterial strains were isolated from the soil and identified as Acinetobacter lwoffii, Pseudomonas putida, Rhizobium sp. and Pseudomonas sp. The isolates were able to grow using different s-triazine compounds and related metabolites as the sole carbon source. Growth parameters in presence of simazine were calculated using the Gompertz model. Rhizobium sp. showed the highest simazine degradation (71.2%) and mineralization (38.7%) rates, whereas the lowest values were found to A. lwoffii—50.4% of degradation and 22.4% of mineralization. Results from qPCR analyses of atzA, atzB and atzC genes revealed their presence in Rhizobium sp. and A. lwoffii, being atzB and atzC the most abundant functional genes. Rhizobium sp. showed a higher amount of the three biomarkers compared to A. lwoffii: the atzA, atzB and atzC gene copy number per microlitre were, respectively, 101, 102 and 103-fold higher in the former. Therefore the proposed molecular approaches based on the use of atz genes as biomarkers can be considered as useful tools to evaluate the presence and potential capability of degrading-s-triazines soil microorganisms.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this study was provided by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia (Project CTM2010-20617-CO2-01) and Comunidad de Madrid (EIADES Project S2009/AMB-1478). We are grateful to M.J. Sadowsky for providing to us the Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Complutense, Avenida Puerta de Hierro s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Carmen Fajardo, Alicia Gibello, Mar Nande & Margarita Martin

  2. Campus de Excelencia Internacional de Moncloa, Edificio del Real Jardín Botánico Alfonso XIII, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Maria Ludovica Saccà

  3. Universidad Carlos III, Calle Madrid, 126, 28903, Madrid, Spain

    María José Martinez-Iñigo

  4. Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA), Finca “El Encín” Km 38,2 A-II Apdo 127, 28800, Madrid, Spain

    Carmen Lobo

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  1. Carmen Fajardo
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  2. Maria Ludovica Saccà
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  3. Alicia Gibello
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  4. María José Martinez-Iñigo
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  5. Mar Nande
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  7. Margarita Martin
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Correspondence to Carmen Fajardo.

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Fajardo, C., Saccà, M.L., Gibello, A. et al. Assessment of s-Triazine Catabolic Potential in Soil Bacterial Isolates Applying atz Genes as Functional Biomarkers. Water Air Soil Pollut 223, 3385–3392 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-012-1117-5

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