Identification of PCBs Degrading Bacterial Strains in Zhanjiang Mangrove Sediments

Abstract

The strategies to protect the vulnerable Zhanjiang Mangrove Reserve from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) pollution have attracted great attention. PCBs are hard to degrade in the ecosystem and easy to accumulate in sediments. PCBs can be enriched into animals and humans through the food chain, causing “three toxicities”, thus endangering the health of the body. In this study, the PCBs-degrading bacteria in the mangrove sediments of Gaoqiao, Zhanjiang were filtered. 16S rRNA was amplified from the genomes of these bacteria, and the products were purified and sequenced for isolation and identification of the bacteria. A total of 20 strains of PCBs-degrading bacteria were isolated from sediment samples of the low, middle and high tide zones of the Zhanjiang Mangrove Reserve, among which Bacillus and Pandoraea showed the best degradability with a higher level of PCB degradation rates of 92.2 and 97.8%, respectively. These results were helpful for future research, including genetic screening, cloning and restructuring, and instructive for the cultivation of PCBs-degrading bacteria.