Anaerobic and aerobic growth of Alcaligenes eutrophus in gasoline contaminated soil of Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Lagos, Nigeria

Omotere Igbahan Odola, Owabor Chinedu N. and Motunrayo Nofiat Odola

Microbiology Research International
Published: November 14 2017
Volume 5, Issue 4
Pages 51-54

Abstract

Studies on the anaerobic and aerobic growth of Alcaligenes eutrophus bacteria show that the same growth factor suffice for both aerobic and anaerobic growth, thus supporting Mathava and Ligy formulation of photosynthesis and carbon assimilation in these forms, and his thesis that the previously observed need for peptone or yeast extract could be attributed to their content of essential growth factors. A bottle technique for anaerobic cultures and a flask technique for aerobic culture are described in detail. Photosynthesis in A. eutrophus bacteria is best observed when they are grown anaerobically. The experiments described here indicate that the culture media had to be modified to conform to certain special requirement imposed by anaerobic growth; the required growth factors remained the same. A. eutrophus bacteria display the same growth pattern in both aerobic and anaerobic condition in ethylene substrate while there were some slight changes of its growth pattern in both aerobic and anaerobic condition for xylene and benzene substrate which are aromatic compounds. This study shows that there was higher growth of A. eutrophus bacteria in aerobic condition than anaerobic condition. The findings suggest that A. eutrophus bacteria is most adapted to conditions present in soils contaminated with gasoline and hence can be exploited in bioremediation activities.

Keywords: Bacteria, photosynthesis, growth factors, growth pattern, hydrocarbons.

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