| Congresso Brasileiro de Microbiologia 2023 | Resumo: 1008-2 | ||||
Resumo:Water is an essential resource for human survival, and with increasing consumption, its quality faces serious challenges. The presence of contaminants is increasing, and their treatment is expensive. The Yaque del Sur basin is the third largest in the country, with an extension of more than 183 kilometers. It covers part of the provinces of La Vega, San José de Ocoa, San Juan, Azua, Barahona, and Bahoruco, which makes it an important resource for irrigation, hydroelectric power, and support of local agriculture. However, the river has become increasingly polluted in recent years due to agricultural drainage, waste disposal, and other human activities. This pollution not only harms the health of the river's ecosystem but also poses risks to the communities that depend on it. Priestia megaterium (previously known as Bacillus megaterium), present in various habitats, is gram-positive and has shown great potential for bioremediation of metal-contaminated sites.An alternative to water treatment that bacteria could mediate is a practical and innocuous treatment; one of the organisms known for this bioremediation process is Priestia megaterium, which presents different resistance mechanisms for its adaptation to stressful ecological niches. This work focused on analyzing the Priestia megaterium, isolated from the Yaque del Sur River due to its great importance in the Dominican Republic. The strains were isolated, and MALDI-TOF and genomic methods identified them; a bioinformatic analysis was also carried out to determine their potential bioremediation capacity. Two strains were identified as P. megaterium potentially containing various genes that confer resistance to different heavy metals and other compounds and could be used in bioremediation. The functional characterization of the genomes of the isolates obtained from P. megaterium revealed the presence of four genes that encode seven microbial enzymes associated with bioremediation processes. The processes to which each one is associated with studies previously carried out with these enzymes, for which this bacterium would have different mechanisms and could be used for bioremediation processes. These include decontamination processes for hydrocarbons and diesel (lysophospholipase gene), heavy metals (such as Cr3+, Al3+, Cu2+, Eu3+, and Pb2+; L-2,4-diamino butyrate decarboxylase gene), oil spills, oil-wet soils, waste industrial and stained wastewater (monoglyceride lipase gene). Likewise, genes are associated with different mechanisms for the degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (monooxygenase gene), lignin, and dye bleaching (glutathione peroxidase gene). Palavras-chave: Priestia megaterium, bioremediation, Dominican Republic, Yaque del Sur river, River diversity Agência de fomento: Fondo Nacional de Innovación y Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico-FONDOCYT | |||||