Comparing the growth characteristics of three bacteria involved in degrading rubbers

Ji Dong Gu*, Li Pan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Three bacteria isolated for degradation of rubbers were compared for their growth characteristics derived from the Bradford protein assay and turbidity (optical density, OD) measurement. Both Alcaligenes xylosoxidans T2 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa GP10 were fast-growing bacteria while Nocardia corynebacterioides S3 was a slow grower utilizing rubber as the sole source of carbon and energy, but the extent of degradation was lower by the formers than the latter. A. xylosoxidans T2, P. aeruginosa GP10 and N. corynebacterioides S3 showed a typical sigmoidal growth pattern based on binding of Coomassie Brilliant Blue G250 to bacterial proteins and spectrophotometrical measurement at 600 nm. Both assays showed similar growth characteristics for all three bacteria in this study. Degradation of rubber was more pronounced by N. corynebacterioides S3 than either A. xylosoxidans T2 or P. aeruginosa GP10 during 70 days of incubation. Our results suggest that slow-growing bacteria may play a much greater role in degrading polymeric materials than was previously believed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)273-279
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Polymers and the Environment
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bacterial growth
  • Bradford assay
  • Coomassie Brilliant Blue-G250
  • Polymer deterioration

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