Differential fate of metabolism of a sulfonated azo dye Remazol Orange 3R by plants Aster amellus Linn., Glandularia pulchella (Sweet) Tronc. and their consortium

Plant consortium-AG of Aster amellus Linn. and Glandularia pulchella (Sweet) Tronc. showed complete decolorization of a dye Remazol Orange 3R in 36 h, while individually A. amellus and G. pulchella took 72 and 96 h respectively. Individually A. amellus showed induction in the activities of enzymes veratryl alcohol oxidase and DCIP reductase after degradation of the dye while G. pulchella showed induction of laccase and tyrosinase, indicating their involvement in the dye metabolism. Consortium-AG showed induction in the activities of lignin peroxidase, veratryl alcohol oxidase, laccase, tyrosinase and DCIP reductase. Two different sets of induced enzymes from A. amellus and G. pulchella work together in consortium-AG resulting in faster degradation of the dye. The degradation of the dye into different metabolites was confirmed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Fourier Transform Infra Red Spectroscopy. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy analysis identified four metabolites of dye degradation by A. amellus as acetamide, benzene, naphthalene and 3-diazenylnaphthalene-2-sulfonic acid, four metabolites by G. pulchella as acetamide, 3-diazenyl-4-hydroxynaphthalene-2-sulfonic acid, naphthalen-1-ol and (ethylsulfonyl)benzene, while two metabolites by consortium-AG as 2-(phenylsulfonyl)ethanol and N-(naphthalen-2-yl)acetamide. The non-toxic nature of the metabolites of Remazol Orange 3R degradation was revealed by phytotoxicity studies.