Evolution of bacterial community during bioremediation of PAHs in a coal tar contaminated soil

The monitoring of a windrow treatment applied to soil contaminated by mostly 2-, 3- and 4-ring PAHs produced by coal tar distillation was performed by following the evolution of both PAH concentration and the bacterial community. Total and PAH-degrading bacterial community structures were followed by 16S rRNA PCR–DGGE in parallel with quantification by bacterial counts and 16 PAH measurements. Six months of biological treatment led to a strong decrease in 2-, 3- and 4-ring PAH concentrations (98, 97 and 82% respectively). This result was associated with the activity of bacterial PAH-degraders belonging mainly to the Gamma-proteobacteria, in particular, the Enterobacteria and Pseudomonas genera, which were detected over the course of the treatment. This group was considered to be a good bioindicator to determine the potential PAH biodegradation of contaminated soil. Conversely, other species, like the Beta-proteobacteria, were detected after 3 months, when 2-, 3- and 4-ring PAHs were almost completely degraded. Thus, presence of the Beta-proteobacteria group could be considered a good candidate indicator to estimate the endpoint of biotreatment of this type of PAH-contaminated soil.