Anaerobic benzene biodegradation by a pure bacterial culture of Bacillus cereus under nitrate reducing conditions

A pure culture using benzene as sole carbon and energy sources was isolated by screening procedure from gasoline contaminated soil. The analysis of the 16S rDNA gene sequence, morphological and physiological characteristics showed that the isolated strain was a member of genus Bacillus cereus. The biodegradation performance of benzene by B. cereus was evaluated, and the results showed that benzene could be efficiently biodegraded when the initial benzene concentration was below 150 mg/L. The metabolites of anaerobic nitrate-dependent benzene oxidation by strain B. cereus were identified as phenol and benzoate. The results of substrate interaction between binary combinations for benzene, phenol and benzoate showed that the simultaneous presence of benzene stimulated the degradation of benzoate, whereas the addition of benzene inhibited the degradation of phenol. Benzene degradation by B. cereus was enhanced by the addition of phenol and benzoate, the enhanced effects were more pronounced at higher concentration. To our knowledge, this is the first report that the isolated bacterial culture of B. cereus can efficiently degraded benzene under nitrate reducing conditions.