Microbial communities associated with the co-metabolism of free cyanide and thiocyanate under alkaline conditions

• Published in: 3 Biotech Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 93 - 11
• Main Authors: Mekuto, Lukhanyo, Ntwampe, Seteno Karabo Obed, Mudumbi, John Baptist N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Bacillus; Biodegradation; Biodiversity; Bioinformatics; Biomaterials; Biotechnology; Cancer Research; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Communities; Cyanides; Gene sequencing; Klebsiella; Metabolism; Microbiomes; Microorganisms; Organisms; Original; Original Article; rRNA 16S; Stem Cells; Biodegradation; Cyanide; 16S rDNA; Thiocyanate; VITEK; Microbial communities; Compact; VITEK® Compact
• ISSN: 2190-572X; 2190-5738
• DOI: 10.1007/s13205-018-1124-3

This study focused on the identification of free cyanide (CDO) and thiocyanate (TDO) degrading microbial communities using a culture-dependent and independent approach. Culturable microbial species were isolated from the CDOs ( n  = 13) and TDOs ( n  = 18). The CDOs were largely dominated by Bacillus sp. while the TDOs were dominated by Bacillus sp., Klebsiella oxytoca , Providencia sp. and Pseudomonas sp. However, 16S rRNA amplicon gene-sequencing revealed the complexity and diversity of the microbial communities in contrast to the organisms that were detected using culture-dependent technique. Overall, the organisms were mainly dominated by Myroides odoratimimus and Proteus sp. at 37.82 and 30.5% for CDOs, and 35.26 and 17.58% for TDOs, respectively. The co-culturing of the CDOs and TDOs resulted in biochemical changes of key metabolic enzymes, and this resulted in the complete degradation of CN − and SCN − simultaneously; a phenomenon which has not been witnessed, especially under alkaline conditions. Current ongoing studies are focused on the application of these organisms for the biodegradation of CN − and SCN − in a continuous system, under changing operational parameters, to assess their effectiveness in the biodegradation of CN − and SCN − .