marine drugs Article Lindane Bioremediation Capability of Bacteria Associated with the Demosponge Hymeniacidon perlevis Stabili Loredana 1,2,*, Pizzolante Graziano 2, Morgante Antonio 2, Nonnis Marzano Carlotta 3,4, Longo Caterina 3,4, Aresta Antonella Maria 5, Zambonin Carlo 5, Corriero Giuseppe 3,4 and Alifano Pietro 2 1 Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero, Unità Operativa di Supporto di Taranto, CNR, Via Roma 3, 74123 Taranto, Italy 2 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, Università del Salento, Via Prov.le Lecce Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy;
[email protected] (P.G.);
[email protected] (M.A.);
[email protected] (A.P.) 3 Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Bari Aldo Moro, 70125 Bari, Italy;
[email protected] (N.M.C.);
[email protected] (L.C.);
[email protected] (C.G.) 4 CoNISMa, Piazzale Flaminio 9, 00196 Roma, Italy 5 Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari Aldo Moro, 70125 Bari, Italy;
[email protected] (A.A.M.);
[email protected] (Z.C.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +39-0832-298971 Academic Editors: Vassilios Roussis, Efstathia Ioannou and Keith B. Glaser Received: 23 January 2017; Accepted: 27 March 2017; Published: 6 April 2017 Abstract: Lindane is an organochlorine pesticide belonging to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that has been widely used to treat agricultural pests. It is of particular concern because of its toxicity, persistence and tendency to bioaccumulate in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In this context, we assessed the role of bacteria associated with the sponge Hymeniacidon perlevis in lindane degradation.