Phenanthrene degradation by the bacterium Pseudomonas stutzeri JP1 under low oxygen condition

- Different approaches were applied to investigate the mechanism of phenanthrene degradation by Pseudomonas stutzeri JP1.
- Methylcrotonoyl-CoA carboxylase and quinonprotein alcohol dehydrogenase were involved in the phenanthrene catabolism.
- This work provides a theoretical basis for bioremediation of PAHs contamination in low oxygen environment.

Phenanthrene, is one of the important polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be used as indicator for measuring PAHs and as a model molecule for studying PAHs biodegradation. During phenanthrene bioremediation bacterial species plays an important. In present work, a previously isolated PAHs-degrading bacterium, Pseudomonas stutzeri JP1, was used to investigate the phenanthrene degradation mechanism under low oxygen condition. RNA-sequencing was conducted for gene detections. The results indicated that methylcrotonoyl-CoA carboxylase gene and quinoprotein alcohol dehydrogenase genes of bacterium were up-regulated during the PAHs exposure. The results of RT-qPCR revealed that the genes encoding the quinoprotein alcohol dehydrogenase were 3.16-fold up-regulated. Further, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and MALDI-TOF-TOF were used to study the proteins related to phenanthrene degradation. The results showed that expression of six proteins obviously increased upon phenanthrene induction. Quinoprotein alcohol dehydrogenase gene was involved in phenanthrene catabolism. The results correspond nicely to the RNA-Seq data. This work provided in-depth knowledge as well as technical support for bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contamination via microbes in low oxygen environment.