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Phenotypic Adaptations Help Rhodococcus erythropolis Cells during the Degradation of Paraffin Wax
Author(s) -
Rodrigues Carlos J. C.,
de Carvalho Carla C. C. R.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.201800598
Subject(s) - paraffin wax , wax , biodegradation , liquid paraffin , substrate (aquarium) , microorganism , precipitation , chemistry , chemical engineering , chromatography , bacteria , materials science , organic chemistry , biology , composite material , ecology , genetics , physics , meteorology , engineering
During crude oil extraction, the reduction in temperature and pressure results in the precipitation of paraffin wax that contains 20–40 carbon chain hydrocarbons. The paraffin wax may accumulate inside production tubes, pipelines, and processing facilities, and also in tankers during petroleum transportation. There are few bacterial strains that are able to degrade solid substrates. In the present study, the biodegradation of paraffin is evaluated using Rhodococcus erythropolis cells. This bacterium is able to grow using paraffin wax from an oil refinery plant as the sole carbon source. The cells grow as a thick biofilm over the solid substrate, make scale‐like structures that increase the area of the initially smooth surface of paraffin, produce biosurfactants, and become more negatively charged than ethanol‐ or glucose‐grown cells. When paraffin wax is supplied as microparticles, to increase the cell–substrate contact area and to simulate paraffin precipitation, the cells also adjust the composition of the fatty acids of the phospholipids of the cellular membrane to decrease its fluidity and paraffin biodegradation increases considerably. The study suggests that the phenotypic adaptation of R. erythropolis cells may be used to degrade paraffin wax under real conditions.