Chlorpyrifos-degrading cyanobacterium – Coleofasciculus chthonoplastes isolated from paddy field

ABSTRACT

Cyanobacterial strains were isolated from different locations of Kerala, India and grown in BG 11 medium. Cultures were tested for their pesticide degradation capability by growing them in chlorpyrifos containing media. The strain showing better growth in chlorpyrifos containing medium, Coleofasciculus chthonoplastes was chosen for further studies. The supernatant of its culture was analysed for the degraded products of chlorpyrifos. Extracted fractions were spotted on thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates along with the standard compounds. TLC of the supernatant showed additional bands. These were not caused by the inputs. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) of the additional bands showed a difference in IR peak values which indicated the degradation of chlorpyrifos. Biodegradation products of the pesticide were identified by GC-MS and LC-MS analyses. A new compound 1,1,2,3,3 pentachloro propane, considered as derived from chlorpyrifos, was also found as a metabolite in the medium.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyanobacteria
• pesticide degradation
• Coleofasciculus chthonoplastes
• chlorpyrifos
• TCP
• 1pentachloro propane

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for financial support from the Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Kerala (No. DoECC/E2/RD-51/277/2012); and for analytical support (GC-MS) from SAIF, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, Kerala [DoECC 67].