Development of artificial consortia of microalgae and bacteria for efficient biodegradation and detoxification of lindane
Abstract Bacterial, algal and bacto algal cultures were set up with 50 ppm lindane to study the degradation and detoxification potency of the strains. Several intermediate metabolites like pentachlorocyclohexenes, tetrachlorocyclohexenes, trichlorocyclohexane, dichlorocyclohexane, aliphatic chlorinated compounds, phenols were detected using GC MS. It was observed that after 120 h, lindane was efficiently degraded after treatment with bacteria algal culture. To assess the detoxification extent in different modes of lindane degradation, methyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay for cytotoxicity and 7 ethoxyresorufin O deethylase (EROD) assay for xenobiotics were determined using human hepato carcinoma cell line HepG2. After 168 h treatment by bacto algal co culture, LC50 was increased by 1.89 folds and 3.1 fold decrease in EROD induction confirmed the reduction in toxicity. Integrated toxico chemical analysis clearly indicated that the artificial bacterial and algal consortia could be considered as a prospective approach for degradation and detoxification of environments contaminated with lindane and other organochlorinated pesticides.