The complete degradation of acetanilide by a consortium of microbes isolated from River Maros

Chemical pollutants occurring in rivers may have severe effects on human health along with being harmful to the environment. Bioaugmentation is a potential tool for the removal of xenobiotics from soil and water therefore the objectives of this study were the isolation, identification and characterization of microbes with acetanilide- and aniline-degrading properties from the River Maros. Microbes isolated on minimal media containing acetanilide or aniline-HCl as a sole carbon and nitrogen source were considered as acetanilide- or aniline-degraders. The decomposition of acetanilide and aniline were followed by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). An acetanilide-degrading bacterium, identified as Rhodococcus erythropolis, was able to convert acetanilide to aniline, which was further decomposed by the fungal isolate Aspergillus ustus when the two microbes were co-cultivated in a minimal medium containing acetanilide as a sole carbon and nitrogen source. The strains isolated in this study might be used in approaches addressing the biodegradation of acetanilide and aniline in the environment

Isolation of microbes for the bioaugmentation of pollutants from river water samples

A wide range of chemical pollutants occur in rivers, several of which may impair human health severely. The objectives of this study were the isolation, identification and characterization of xenobiotic-degrading microbes from ten different locations of the Romanian and Hungarian parts of River Maros in an international collaboration. High bacterial and fungal diversity was revealed by RISA (ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis) studies. Microbes were isolated from the water samples on media containing 1 mg/ml acetanilide, aniline-HCl, 2,6-dimethylaniline, 4-isopropylaniline, chlorpropham, diuron, Na-benzoate, 3,4- dihydroxybenzoate, 4-hydroxybenzoate, methylparaben, phenol, m-cresol, p-cresol, resorcinol, phenoxiacetic acid and 2,4-dichlorophenoxiacetic acid separately. The isolates were deposited in the Pollutant-Degrading Microorganism Collection (PDMC) of the University of Szeged. The degradation of acetanilide was monitored by spectrophotometry and the three best degraders were all identified as Rhodococcus erythropolis. The xenobiotic-degrading microbes isolated in this study might be used for bioaugmentation purposes

Prvi izvještaj o bolesti zelene plijesni u Hrvatskoj

Green mould disease, caused by Trichoderma species, is a severe problem for mushroom growers worldwide, including Croatia. Trichoderma strains were isolated from green mould-affected Agaricus bisporus (button or common mushroom) compost and Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) substrate samples collected from Croatian mushroom farms. The causal agents of green mould disease in the oyster mushroom were T. pleurotum and T. pleuroticola, similar to other countries. At the same time, the pathogen of A. bisporus was exclusively the species T. harzianum, which is different from earlier findings and indicates that the range of mushroom pathogens is widening. The temperature profiles of the isolates and their hosts overlapped, thus no range was found that would allow optimal growth of the mushrooms without mould contamination. Ferulic acid and certain phenolic compounds, such as thymol showed remarkable fungistatic effect on the Trichoderma isolates, but inhibited the host mushrooms as well. However, commercial fungicides prochloraz and carbendazim were effective agents for pest management. This is the first report on green mould disease of cultivated mushrooms in Croatia.svijetu, uključujući i Hrvatsku. Vrste Trichoderma izolirane su iz komposta onečišćenog zelenom plijesni pri uzgoju šampinjona (Agaricus bisporus), kao i iz uzoraka supstrata uzgoja bukovača (Pleurotus ostreatus), s farma gljiva u Hrvatskoj. Pri infekciji bukovača izolirani su i identifi cirani uzročnici vrsta Trichoderma pleurotum i T. pleuroticola, što odgovara nalazima u drugim zemljama, dok je iz uzgoja šampinjona izolirana samo vrsta T. harzianum. Navedeni su podaci različiti od prijašnjih nalaza i upućuju na to da se širi broj infektivnih uzročnika pri uzgoju gljiva. Temperaturni profil izolata i njihovih domaćina preklapao se, a komercijalni fungicidi prokloraz i karbendazim nađeni su kao potencijalno dobri kandidati za učinkovito suzbijanje ovih infekcija. Ferulična kiselina i neke fenolne tvari kao što je timol pokazuju značajan fungistatski učinak na izolate vrsta roda Trichoderma, ali su također inhibitorni i za domaćine - gljive. Ovo je prvo izvješće o bolesti izazvanoj zelenom plijesni pri uzgoju gljiva šampinjona i bukovača u Hrvatskoj