Isolamento e seleção de fungos para biorremediação a partir de solo contaminado com herbicidas triazínicos Isolation and screening of fungi to bioremediation from triazine herbicide contaminated soil

A biorremediação é uma tecnologia que utiliza o metabolismo de microrganismos para eliminação ou redução, a níveis aceitáveis, de poluentes presentes no ambiente. Os herbicidas triazínicos são usados intensivamente no controle de ervas daninhas, principalmente na cultura de milho. Objetivou-se, neste trabalho, isolar fungos filamentosos de solos contaminados com herbicidas triazínicos (atrazine e simazine) e selecionar os microrganismos isolados quanto à capacidade de crescimento em meio adicionado de atrazine. Os microrganismos foram isolados, cultivados em meio Ágar-Batata-Dextrose (BDA) acidificado com ácido tartárico 10%, adicionado de 50 mg.Kg-1 de atrazine e incubados por 5 dias a 25ºC. Foi realizada a medida diária do crescimento fúngico e calculada a velocidade de crescimento radial através de regressão linear dos raios das colônias utilizando-se a equação r(t) = a + VCR .t (r:raio; t: tempo; VCR: velocidade de crescimento radial). Os resultados de VCR foram analisados através de Anova simples e do teste de Tukey, para comparação de médias. Foram isolados 15 fungos, pertencentes aos gêneros Aspergillus, Penicillium e Trichoderma. As maiores VCRs foram obtidas com fungos Aspergillus (A1) e Penicillium (AS1), isolados de solo contaminado com atrazine e atrazine adicionado de simazine, respectivamente, que apresentaram VCRs de 1,57 mm.d-1 e 1,28 mm.d-1. O crescimento dos fungos em meio contaminado com a atrazine indica a possibilidade de utilização desses fungos em estudos de biorremediação de solos contaminados com herbicidas triazínicos.<br>Bioremediation is a technology that uses microrganism metabolism to quickly eliminate or reduce pollutants to acceptable levels into the environment. The triazine herbicides are intensively used to control harmful grass in the culture of maize. The aim of this work was to isolate filamentous fungi from soil contaminated with triazine herbicides and screening these fungi due to their ability of growth in a medium added by atrazine. The fungi were isolated, cultivated in potato-dextrose-agar plus 50 mg.Kg-1 of atrazine and incubated for 5 days at 25ºC. The measure of the rays of the colonies was carried out daily and the radial growth rate (RGR) through linear regression of colonies rays using the equation: r(t) = a + RGR .t (r:ray; t: time; RGR: radial growth rate). The RGR results were analyzed through analysis of variance and Tukey test for comparison of averages. Fifteen filamentous fungi from genus Aspergillus, Penicillium and Trichoderma were isolated. The highest RGRs were obtained with the fungi Aspergillus and Penicillium, when isolated from contaminated soil with atrazine and atrazine + simazine, respectively, showing RGR of 1.57 mm.d-1 and 1.28 mm.d-1. The growth of these fungi in atrazine contaminated meas indicates a possible of use of them in bioremediation experiments with contaminated soil containing triazine herbicides

Alternative methodology for isolation of biosurfactant-producing bacteria

Wide biosurfactant application on biorremediation is limited by its high production cost. The search for cheaper biossurfactant production alternatives has guided our study. The use of selective media containing sucrose (10 g.L-1) and Arabian Light oil (2 g.L-1) as carbon sources showed to be effective to screen and maintain biosurfactant-producing consortia isolated from mangrove hydrocarbon-contaminated sediment. The biosurfactant production was assayed by kerosene, gasoline and Arabian Light Emulsification activity and the bacterial growth curve was determined by bacterial quantification. The parameters analyzed for biosurfactant production were the growth curve, salinity concentration, flask shape and oxygenation. All bacteria consortia screened were able to emulsify the petroleum derivatives tested. Biosurfactant production increased according to the incubation time; however the type of emulsification (non-aqueous phase or aqueous phase) did not change with time but with the compound tested. The methodology was able to isolate biosurfactant-producing consortia from superficial mangrove sediment contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons and was recommended for selection of biosurfactant producing bacteria in tropical countries with low financial resources