Enrichment of bacteria possessing catechol dioxygenase genes in the rhizosphere of Spirodela polyrrhiza: a mechanism of accelerated biodegradation of phenol.

The bacterial community structure in bulk water and in rhizosphere fractions of giant duckweed, Spirodela polyrrhiza, was quantitatively and qualitatively investigated by PCR-based methods using 6 environmental water samples to elucidate the mechanisms underlying selective accumulation of aromatic compound-degrading bacteria in the rhizosphere of S. polyrrhiza. S. polyrrhiza selectively accumulated a diverse range of aromatic compound-degrading bacteria in its rhizosphere, regardless of the origin of water samples, despite no exposure to phenol. The relative abundances of the catechol 1,2-dioxygenase (C12O) gene (C12O DNA) and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase (C23O) gene (C23O DNA) were calculated as the ratios of the copy numbers of these genes to the copy number of 16S rDNA and are referred to as the rhizosphere effect (RE) value. The RE values for C12O DNA and C23O DNA were 1.0 x 10(1)-9.3 x 10(3) and 1.7 x 10(2)-1.5 x 10(4) times as high, respectively, in rhizosphere fractions as in bulk water fractions, and these higher values were associated with a notably higher sequence diversity of C12O DNA and C23O DNA. The RE values during phenol degradation were 3.6 x 10(0)-4.3 x 10(2) and 2.2 x 10(0)-1.7 x 10(2), respectively, indicating the ability of S. polyrrhiza to selectively accumulate aromatic compound-degrading bacteria in its rhizosphere during phenol degradation. The bacterial communities in the rhizosphere fractions differed from those in the bulk water fractions, and those in the bulk water fractions were notably affected by the rhizosphere bacterial communities. S. polyrrhiza released more than 100 types of phenolic compound into its rhizosphere as root exudates at the considerably high specific release rate of 1520mg TOC and 214mg phenolic compounds/d/g root (wet weight). This ability of S. polyrrhiza might result in the selective recruitment and accumulation of a diverse range of bacteria harboring genes encoding C12O and C23O, and the subsequent accelerated degradation of phenol in the rhizosphere.

Accelerated aromatic compounds degradation in aquatic environment by use of interaction between Spirodela polyrrhiza and bacteria in its rhizosphere.

Accelerated degradation of organic chemicals by aquatic plant-bacterial associations was reported for the first time with elucidation of the role and contribution of aquatic plant and bacteria in its rhizosphere using a fast-growing giant duckweed, Spirodela polyrrhiza. The results clearly showed the accelerated degradation of all the three aromatic compounds (phenol, aniline and 2,4-dichlorophenol [2,4-DCP]) tested by aquatic plant-bacterial associations. In phenol degradation system, phenol-degrading bacteria indigenous to the rhizosphere fraction of S. polyrrhiza mainly contributed, while in aniline degradation system S. polyrrhiza mainly contributed by stimulating aniline-degrading bacteria both in the rhizosphere and balk water fraction. On the other hand in 2,4-DCP degradation system, S. polyrrhiza itself mainly contributed to its removal by uptake and degradation. Thus, the mechanisms for accelerated removal of aromatic compounds were quite different depending on the substrates. S. polyrrhiza showed selective accumulation of phenol-degrading bacteria in its rhizosphere fraction, while aniline- and 2,4-DCP-degrading bacteria were not much accumulated. S. polyrrhiza secreted peroxidase and laccase. However, both of the enzymatic activities increased with the addition of aromatic compounds, degrading ability of S. polyrrhiza itself should be owing to the production of peroxidase rather than laccase because the change of peroxidase activity and concentration of each aromatic compound well concurred. From the results obtained in the present study, it can be concluded that the feasibility of the use of aquatic plant-bacterial associations to accelerate the degradation of organic chemicals especially recalcitrant compounds in aquatic environment was shown.