Journal of Environmental Biology

Carbon isotope fractionation studies of bacterial strain

Rhodococcus rhodochrous  MTCC 291

 

M.A. Rasheed*, M. Lakshmi, P.L.S. Rao, M.S. Kalpana, D.J. Patil and A.M. Dayal

Microbiology Laboratory, National Geophysical Research Institute, CSIR, Hyderabad-500 007, India

*Corresponding Author email : drrasheedmicro@gmail.com

 

 

 

Publication Data

Paper received:

30 August 2011

 

Revised received:

05 April 2012

 

Accepted:

26 May 2012

 

Abstract

Carbon isotope fractionation associated with the aerobic consumption of propane (C3) were determined using Rhodococcus rhodochrous MTCC 291 bacterial strain to estimate the amount of hydrocarbon oxidized using GC, fractionation of δ¹³C carbon isotopes of propane and CO₂ using GC-C-IRMS and growth of bacteria by UV-Visible Spectrophotometer. The initial δ¹³C isotopic value of propane was -34 ‰ and after incubation the changes of the isotopic values have been determined on 6^th, 10^th, 14^th, and 17^th days. The propane isotopic fractionation value was found to be maximum of -38.0 ‰ with an average value of -36.5 ‰ and a standard deviation of -1.22 ‰. The initial δ¹³C isotopic value of CO₂ was -19.601 ‰. The CO₂ isotopic fractionation value was found to be maximum of -29.153 ‰ with an average value of -26.859 ‰ and a standard deviation of -28.338 ‰. The consumption of propane gas was estimated using Gas Chromatograph. The initial concentration of propane in control was found to be 53 ppm. On incubation, the consumption of the propane gas was observed to be of 26 ppm. The carbon isotope fractionation presented here may be applied to estimate the extent of C1-C4 oxidation in natural gas samples, and should prove useful in further studying the microbial oxidation of these compounds in the natural environment.

 

Key words

Carbon Isotope, Propane–oxidation, GC-C-IRMS, Rhodococcus rhodocrous MTCC 291

 

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