Isolation and characterization of atrazine mineralizing Bacillus subtilis strain HB-6

PLoS One. 2014 Sep 19;9(9):e107270. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107270. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Atrazine is a widely used herbicide with great environmental concern due to its high potential to contaminate soil and waters. An atrazine-degrading bacterial strain HB-6 was isolated from industrial wastewater and the 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified HB-6 as a Bacillus subtilis. PCR assays indicated that HB-6 contained atrazine-degrading genes trzN, atzB and atzC. The strain HB-6 was capable of utilizing atrazine and cyanuric acid as a sole nitrogen source for growth and even cleaved the s-triazine ring and mineralized atrazine. The strain demonstrated a very high efficiency of atrazine biodegradation with a broad optimum pH and temperature ranges and could be enhanced by cooperating with other bacteria, suggesting its huge potential for remediation of atrazine-contaminated sites. To our knowledge, there are few Bacillus subtilis strains reported that can mineralize atrazine, therefore, the present work might provide some new insights on atrazine remediation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Atrazine / metabolism*
  • Bacillus subtilis / genetics
  • Bacillus subtilis / isolation & purification
  • Bacillus subtilis / metabolism*
  • Biodegradation, Environmental
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Genes, Bacterial
  • Phylogeny
  • Triazines / metabolism
  • Wastewater / microbiology

Substances

  • Triazines
  • Waste Water
  • cyanuric acid
  • Atrazine

Grants and funding

The present study was supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21377075, 21277083, 41071164 and 41001152), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20113702110007) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong (ZR2013DQ007). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.