Oxidative stress response in atrazine-degrading bacteria exposed to atrazine

Rhodobacter sphaeroides W16 and Acinetobacter lwoffii DNS32 which were isolated from soil in cold area subjected to a long-term atrazine application in Heilongjiang Province (China) can degrade atrazine efficiently. The investigation of their antioxidant properties will be useful for bioremediation and engineering applications of atrazine-degrading bacteria. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) from two atrazine-degrading bacteria and one non-atrazine-degrading bacterium were tested for response to the oxidative stress caused by atrazine. Atrazine produced a greater inhibition of growth in Bacillus subtilis B19. The three bacteria apparently produced two activity peaks of SOD and CAT. The results demonstrated all three bacteria possessed a mechanism for atrazine tolerance that may include controlling the cellular redox balance by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the subsequent scavenging of the ROS, but such response was more rapid and at lower levels in the two atrazine-degrading bacteria, suggesting less oxidative damage in these cells upon atrazine exposure. Compared to B. subtilis B19, atrazine-degrading bacteria had relatively high tolerance to atrazine stress, especially R. sphaeroides W16. Therefore, R. sphaeroides W16 and A. lwoffii DNS32 have a good application prospect of bioremediation project for soil contaminated by atrazine in cold area in Heilongjiang Province.