Utilization of PHA producing bacteria in bioremediation technologies

The aim of this work is study of utilization of PHA producing bacteria in bioremediation technologies. For this study were used bacteria Pseudomonas putida KT2440 and two isolates from soil contaminated by petroleum - Pseudomonas gessardii (D2) a Pseudomonas fulva (D3). The experimental part describes especially study of feather biodegradation using selected microbial strains. All the tested bacterial strains were capable of feather degradation and utilization as the sole carbon source. During biodegradation experiment, we monitored weight loss of feather, protease and keratinase activity, concentration of bacterial biomass and PHA content as well as pH. The highest biodegradation ability and keratinase activity was observed in Pseudomonas putida. None of tested bacteria accumulated detectable amount of PHA during growth on waste feather, nevertheless, bacterial biomass grown during feather degradation can be used as an inoculum for PHA production on waste frying oil and octanoic acid. Using this experimental setup, high PHA content (54% of cell dry weight) was achiaved in Pseudomonas putida. Another part of the thesis deals with biodegradation of petroleum oil. The highest capability of growth on this carbon source were determined in Pseudomonas fulva