Enhanced Bioavailability of Sparsely Soluble PAHs

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic pollutants of concern because of the health hazards they promote. In the present work, a bacterial isolate from crude oil was found to promote enhanced bioavailability of two model PAHs namely fluoranthene and pyrene within a span of 24 h which is very short in comparison to previous reports. The bacterium showed scanty growth in presence of these PAHs as the sole source of nutrient and energy. However it showed good growth in peptone glycerol ammonium salts (PGAS) medium supplemented with these PAHs. It also promoted biosurfactant production in the PAH supplemented medium. After initiation of biosurfactant production, addition of test PAHs was done at a concentration of about 10 times their aqueous solubility. Analysis by TLC showed that the PAHs in their entirety were scavenged off thus advocating for the immense bioremediation potential of biosurfactant from the test bacterium.