Bioremediation of perfluorooctanoic acid using microalgae with a transcriptomic approach

Abstract

Microalgal-mediated bioremediation technologies offer sustainable strategies for removal of emerging contaminants in aquatic environments. However, the molecular mechanisms and bioremediation pathways in microalgal species involved in the degradation of persistent organic pollutant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) remain largely unexplored and poorly characterized. This study explored the potential of four microalgal strains for PFOA treatment and examined the expression of key functional genes through transcriptomic analysis. Scenedesmus quadricauda emerged as the most promising candidate for PFOA removal, exhibiting a high removal efficiency of 58.2% (1.22 mg-PFOA/g-microalgae) at an initial PFOA concentration of 5 ppm. The mass balance analysis of PFOA removal by S. quadricauda revealed that 44.8% of the PFOA was removed through bioaccumulation, and 12.8% through biosorption. The chromatographic analysis confirmed that a portion of the bioaccumulated PFOA (0.58%, 22.7 μg/L) was biodegraded by the biological removal mechanism in microalgae and identified by-products of PFOA. When S. quadricauda was exposed to PFOA, the fatty acid methyl ester yield increased by 178% through transesterification. The transcriptome analysis revealed key functional genes involved in defense, energy production, and degradation in response to PFOA exposure. These results underscore the need to develop microalgae-mediated bioremediation technology for effectively removing PFOA from polluted aquatic environments.