title: Pot and field studies on bioremediation of p-nitrophenol contaminated soil using Arthrobacter protophormiae RKJ100.
abstract: Biodegradation of p-nitrophenol (PNP), a priority pollutant, was studied as a model system for bioremediation of sites contaminated with nitroaromatic/organic compounds. Bioremediation of PNP-containing soil was first carried out in pots using immobilized and free cells of Arthrobacter protophormiae RKJ100 in order to ascertain the role of a suitable carrier material. Results showed that stability of the introduced strain was enhanced upon immobilization and that the rate of PNP depletion decreased with increasing depth of soil. Small-scale field studies (in one square meter plots) were then conducted in which PNP-contaminated soil from an agricultural field was bioaugmented with strain RKJ100 under natural environmental conditions. PNP was totally depleted in 5 days by immobilized cells, whereas free cells were able to deplete 75% of PNP in the same time period. The fate of the released strain as monitored by plate counts, hybridization studies, and real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed fairly stable population of the cells upon immobilization on corncob powder throughout the period of study.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39-A, Chandigarh-160036, India.
authors.forename: Sumeet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Labana
authors.forename: Gunjan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: Debarati
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Narinder K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Aparajita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.forename: Rakesh K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Jain
mesh_terms: D001173:Arthrobacter / Q000502:physiology*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D009596:Nitrophenols / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D009596:Nitrophenols; D012989:Soil Pollutants; C024836:4-nitrophenol