title: Phenol degradation and heavy metal tolerance of Antarctic yeasts.
abstract: In cold environments, biodegradation of organic pollutants and heavy metal bio-conversion requires the activity of cold-adapted or cold-tolerant microorganisms. In this work, the ability to utilize phenol, methanol and n-hexadecane as C source, the tolerance to different heavy metals and growth from 5 to 30 °C were evaluated in cold-adapted yeasts isolated from Antarctica. Fifty-nine percent of the yeasts were classified as psychrotolerant as they could grow in all the range of temperature tested, while the other 41% were classified as psychrophilic as they only grew below 25 °C. In the assimilation tests, 32, 78, and 13% of the yeasts could utilize phenol, n-hexadecane, and methanol as C source, respectively, but only 6% could assimilate the three C sources evaluated. In relation to heavy metals ions, 55, 68, and 80% were tolerant to 1 mM of Cr(VI), Cd(II), and Cu(II), respectively. Approximately a half of the isolates tolerated all of them. Most of the selected yeasts belong to genera previously reported as common for Antarctic soils, but several other genera were also isolated, which contribute to the knowledge of this cold environment mycodiversity. The tolerance to heavy metals of the phenol-degrading cold-adapted yeasts illustrated that the strains could be valuable as inoculant for cold wastewater treatment in extremely cold environments.
authors.affiliation: Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI-CONICET), San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
authors.forename: Pablo Marcelo
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.affiliation: Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA), Buenos Aires, Argentina. marmartorellsaez@gmail.com.
authors.forename: María Martha
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Martorell
authors.affiliation: Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI-CONICET), San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mariana G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Blaser
authors.affiliation: Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.|Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.|NANOBIOTEC-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Lucas Adolfo Mauro
authors.initials: LAM
authors.lastname: Ruberto
authors.affiliation: Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI-CONICET), San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.|Universidad Nacional de Tucumán (UNT), San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.
authors.forename: Lucía Inés Castellanos
authors.initials: LIC
authors.lastname: de Figueroa
authors.affiliation: Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.|Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina.|NANOBIOTEC-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Walter Patricio
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Mac Cormack
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D055873:Extreme Cold; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity; D010636:Phenols / Q000378:metabolism*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D015003:Yeasts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D010636:Phenols
keywords: Antarctica; Bioremediation; Heavy metals; Phenol; Tolerance; Yeasts