Biodegradation of nicotine by Halomonas sp. strain ND9, a moderately halophilic bacterium isolated from Bakhtegan salt lake

Subject Areas : environmental management

Morahem Ashengroph ¹ , Mohammad Majdi ²

1 - Associate Professor of Industrial Microbiology, Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran * (Corresponding Author).
2 - Associate Professor of Plant Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

Received: 2014-07-24 Accepted : 2015-06-25 Published : 2018-03-21

Keywords: Bioremoval, Halomonas sp. strain ND9, Nicotine, Tolerance,

Abstract :

Background and Objective: Nicotine is a highly toxic alkaloid which can be found in tobacco processing industry. Due to the serious environmental problems and therapeutic concerns which have occurred because of presence of toxic nicotine in the environment, biodegradation of this compound by microorganisms has received considerable attention. The objective of the present study was to screen the moderately halophilic bacteria which are able to degrade nicotine and to evaluate the possibility of using the bacterial biocatalysts to clean up nicotine in contaminated environments. Method: Screening and selection of halophilic bacteria degrading nicotine has performed in three separate steps using enrichment culture technique, nicotine as the sole carbon and nitrogen source, and tolerance patterns. The best nicotine-degrading bacterial isolate (designated as strain ND9) was characterized on the basis of morphological and biochemical phenotypes and 16S rRNA sequencing. Growth kinetics and the removal rate of nicotine were evaluated using spectrophotometry and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Findings: According to the results obtained, growing cultures of Halomonas sp. strain ND9 (accession no. KM077028) showed the highest tolerance to nicotine and also degraded over 92% of nicotine (initial concentration of 2 g/L) as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen after 96 h incubation time. Discussion and Conclusions: The present work describes the potential of moderately halophilic bacteria to be used in a de-nicotination process for the first time. Given the potential of Halomonas sp. strain ND9 in the bio-removal of nicotine, isolation and characterization of moderately halophilic bacteria as green bio-catalysts for their application in the bio-degradation of nicotine has been proposed.

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