Abstract
A new bacterial strain, Rhodococcus UKMP-5M isolated from petroleum-contaminated soils demonstrated promising potential to biodegrade cyanide to non-toxic end-products. Ammonia and formate were found as final products during growth of the isolate with KCN as the sole nitrogen source. Formamide was not detected as one of the end-products suggesting that the biodegradation of cyanide by Rhodococcus UKMP-5M may have proceeded via a hydrolytic pathway involving the bacterial enzyme cyanidase. No growth of the bacterium was observed when KCN was supplied as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen even though marginal reduction in the concentration of cyanide was recorded, indicating the toxic effect of cyanide even in cyanide-degrading microorganisms. The cyanide biodegradation ability of Rhodococcus UKMP-5M was greatly affected by the presence of organic nutrients in the medium. Medium containing glucose and yeast extract promoted the highest growth rate of the bacterium which simultaneously assisted complete biodegradation of 0.1 mM KCN within 24 hours of incubation. It was found that growth and cyanide biodegradation occurred optimally at 30°C and pH 6.3 with glucose as the preferred carbon source. Acetonitrile was used as an inducer to enhance cyanide biodegradation since the enzymes nitrile hydratase and/or nitrilase have similarity at both the amino acid and structural levels to that of cyanidase. The findings from this study should be of great interest from an environmental and health point of views since the optimum conditions discovered in the present study bear a close resemblance to the actual scenario of cyanide wastewater treatment facilities.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams D.J., Van Komen J. & Pickett T.M. 2001. Biological cyanide degradation, pp. 203–213. In: Young C. (ed.), Cyanide: Social, Industrial and Economic Aspects. The Metals Society, Warrendale.
Adjei M.D. & Ohta Y. 1999. Isolation and characterization of a cyanide-utilizing Burkholderia cepacia strain. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 15: 699–704.
Adjei M.D. & Ohta Y. 2000. Factors affecting the biodegradation of cyanide by Burkholderia cepacia strain C-3. J. Biosci. Bioeng. 89: 274–277.
Akcil A. 2003. Destruction of cyanide in gold mill effluents: biological versus chemical treatments. Biotechnol. Adv. 21: 501–510.
Akcil A., Karahan A.G., Ciftci H. & Sagdic O. 2003. Biological treatment of cyanide by natural isolated bacteria (Pseudomonas species). Miner. Eng. 16: 643–649.
Akcil A. & Mudder T. 2003. Microbial destruction of cyanide wastes in gold mining: process review. Biotechnol. Lett. 25: 445–450.
Barclay M., Tett V.A. & Knowles C.J. 1998. Metabolism and enzymology of cyanide/metallocyanide biodegradation by Fusarium solani under neutral and acidic conditions. Enzyme Microb. Technol. 23: 321–330.
Baxter J. & Cummings S.P. 2006. The current and future applications of microorganism in the bioremediation of cyanide contamination. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 19: 1–17.
Botz M., Mudder T. & Akcil A. 2005. Cyanide treatment: physical, chemical and biological processes, pp. 672–700. In: Adams M. (ed.) Advances in Gold Ore Processing, Chapter 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Cabuk A., Unal A.T. & Kolankaya N. 2006. Biodegradation of cyanide by a white rot fungus, Trametes versicolor. Biotechnol. Lett. 28: 1313–1317.
Dash R.R., Gaur A. & Balomajumder C. 2009. Cyanide in industrial wastewaters and its removal: a review on biotreatment. J. Hazard. Mater. 163: 1–11.
Dorr P.K. & Knowles C.J. 1989. Cyanide oxygenase and cyanase activities of Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIMB 11764. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 60: 289–294.
Dumestre A., Chone T., Portal J.M., Gerard M. & Berthelin J. 1997. Cyanide degradation under alkaline conditions by a strain of Fusarium solani isolated from contaminated soils. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63: 2729–2734.
Ezzi M.I. & Lynch J.M. 2005. Biodegradation of cyanide by Trichoderma spp. and Fusarium spp. Enzyme Microb. Technol. 36: 849–854.
Fawcett J.K & Scott J.E. 1960. A rapid and precise method for the determination of the urea. J. Clin. Pathol. 13: 156–159.
Goncalves M.M.M., Pinto A.F. & Granato M. 1998. Biodegradation of free cyanide, thiocyanate and metal complexed cyanides in solutions with different compositions. Environ. Technol. 19: 133–142.
Goswami M., Shivaraman N. & Singh R.P. 2002. Kinetics of chlorophenol degradation by benzoate-induced culture of Rhodococcus erythropolis M1. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 18: 779–783.
Gupta N., Balomajumder C. & Agarwal V.K. 2010. Enzymatic mechanism and biochemistry for cyanide degradation: a review. J. Hazard. Mater. 176: 1–13.
Harris R. & Knowles C.J. 1983. Isolation and growth of a Pseudomonas species that utilizes cyanide as a source of nitrogen. J. Gen. Microbiol. 129: 1005–1011.
Hong Y.L. 2007. Dissipation of cyanide contaminants in the rhizosphere environment. Ph.D Thesis. Purdue University.
Hossain S.M., Das M., Begum K.M.M.S. & Anantharaman N. 2005. Studies on biodegradation of cyanide (AgCN) using Phanerochaete chrysosporium. J. Institution Engineers 85: 45–49.
Ingvorsen K., Hojer-Pedersen B. & Godtfredsen S.E. 1991. Novel cyanide-hydrolyzing enzyme from Alcaligenes xylosoxidans subsp. denitrificans. Appl. Environ. Mirobiol. 57: 1783–1789.
Kao C.M., Liu J.K., Lou H.R., Lin C.S. & Chen S.C. 2003. Biotransformation of cyanide to methane and ammonia by Klebsiella oxytoca. Chemosphere 50: 1055–1061.
Keusgen M., Milka P. & Krest I. 2001. Cyanidase from bacterial sources and its potential for the construction of biosensors. Proceedings of the Biosensor Symposium. Tubingen, Germany.
Kunz D.A., Nagappan O., Silva-Avalos J. & Delong G.T. 1992. Utilization of cyanide as a nitrogenous substrate by Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIMB 11764: evidence for multiple pathways of metabolic conversion. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 58: 2022–2029.
Kwon H.K., Woo S.H. & Park J.M. 2002. Degradation of tetracyaninickelate (II) by Cryptococcus humicolus MCN2. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 214: 211–216.
Lee C.K. & Low K.S. 1980. A study of wastewater discharge from electroplating factories. Pertanika 3: 159–161.
Mak K.K.W., Law A.W.C., Tokuda S., Yanase H. & Renneberg R. 2005. Application of cyanide hydrolase from Klebsiella sp. in a biosensor system for the detection of low-level cyanide. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 67: 631–636.
Mudder T.I. & Botz M.M. 2004. Cyanide and society: a critical review. Eur. J. Miner. Process. Environ. Prot. 4: 62–74.
Mudder T.I., Botz M.M. & Smith A. 2001. Chemistry and Treatment of Cyanidation Wastes, 2nd Edition. Mining Journal Books, London.
Nagashima S. 1977. Spectrophotometric determination of cyanide with γ-picoline and barbituric acid. Anal. Chim. Acta. 91: 303–306.
Nallapan Maniyam M., Sjahrir F. & Ibrahim A.L. 2011. Bioremediation of cyanide by optimized resting cells of Rhodococcus strains isolated from Peninsular Malaysia. Int. J. Biosci. Biochem. Bioinform. 1: 98–101.
Nallapan Maniyam M., Sjahrir F. & Ibrahim A.L. 2012. Cyanide degradation by immobilized cells of Rhodococcus UKMP-5M. Biologia 67: 837–844.
Nolan L.M., Harnedy P.A., Turner P., Hearne A.B. & O’Reilly C. 2003. The cyanide hydratase enzyme of Fusarium lateritium also has nitrilase activity. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 221: 161–165.
Patil Y.B. & Paknikar K.M. 2000. Biodetoxification of sivercyanide from electroplating industry wastewater. Lett. Appl. Microbiol. 30: 33–37.
Sharma S.L. & Pant A. 2001. Crude oil degradation by a marine actinomycete Rhodococcus sp. Ind. J. Marine Sci. 30: 146–150.
Shukor M.Y., Gusmanizar N., Ramli J., Shamaan N.A., Mac-Cornmack W.P. & Syed M.A. 2009. Isolation and characterization of an acrylamide-degrading Antarctic bacterium. J. Environ. Biol. 30: 107–112.
Watanabe A., Yano K., Ikebukuro K. & Karube I. 1998. Cyanide hydrolysis in a cyanide-degrading bacterium, Pseudomonas stutzeri AK61, by cyanidase. Microbiology 144: 1677–1682.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nallapan Maniyam, M., Sjahrir, F., Ibrahim, A.L. et al. Biodegradation of cyanide by Rhodococcus UKMP-5M. Biologia 68, 177–185 (2013). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-013-0158-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-013-0158-6