UNIVERSIDAD DE LA FRONTERA Facultad de Ingeniería, Ciencias y Administración Doctorado en Ciencias de Recursos Naturales MICROBIAL DEGRADATION OF IPRODIONE AND ITS METABOLITE 3,5-DICHLOROANILINE (3,5-DCA) BY A DEGRADING BACTERIAL INOCULUM AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE GRASS COVER OF A BIOBED DOCTORAL THESIS IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUERIMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF SCIENCES IN NATURAL RESOURCES MARCO ANTONIO CAMPOS BURGOS TEMUCO-CHILE 2016 Microbial degradation of iprodione and its metabolite 3,5-dichloroaniline (3,5-DCA) by a degrading bacterial inoculum and its application in the grass cover of a biobed Esta tesis fue realizada bajo la supervisión del Director de tesis, Dra. María Cristina Diez Jerez, perteneciente al Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad de La Frontera y ha sido aprobada por los miembros de la comisión examinadora. Marco Antonio Campos Burgos ……………………………………. ……………………………………. Director del Programa de Dra. María Cristina Diez Doctorado en Ciencias de Profesor Guía Recursos naturales ……………………………………. ……………………………………. Director de Postgrado Dr. Dimitrios Karpouzas Universidad de La Frontera Co-Guía ……………………………………. Dra. Gladys Vidal ……………………………………. Dr. Miguel Martínez ……………………………………. Dr. Fernando Borie ……………………………………. Dr. Milko Jorquera “En honor a quienes desinteresadamente aportaron a la realización de esta tesis” En especial a mi madre, por instruirme en lo esencial de la vida y a mi novia por ayudarme a edificar los cimiento de nuestro futuro Agradecimientos Agradecimientos En primer lugar, dar mis agradecimientos a la Dra. María Cristina Diez por acogerme en su grupo de investigación y guiarme en la realización de esta tesis doctoral. Del mismo modo, al Dr. Dimitrios Karpouzas por su interés en mi trabajo y su constante apoyo y consejo, sin el cual la realización del presente trabajo hubiera sido extremadamente arduo. A los proyectos FONDECYT N°1120963, CONICYT/FONDAP/15130015 y a la beca CONICYT N°21110817 por el constante soporte económico que permitió la realización de diversas actividades vinculadas a la presente tesis y la pasantía doctoral en University of Thessaly, Grecia. Al Dr. Francisco Matus, director del programa de Doctorado en Ciencias de Recursos Naturales, sus asistentes Mariela González y Gladys Oyarzun, quienes siempre acogieron y resolvieron mis inquietudes con prontitud y a la profesora María Eugenia Osses por ser testigo de mi evolución. A la Comisión Examinadora, al Dr. Sergio Cuozzo de la Universidad de Tucumán y al Dr. Gonzalo Tortella de la Universidad de la Frontera por su constante consejo. A mis compañeros y amigos del Laboratorio de Biotecnología Ambiental y de Doctorado, Raphael Cuevas, Carolina Inostroza, Alejandra Cartes, Sebastián Elgueta, Edward Hermosilla, Marcela Díaz, Viviana Lienlaf, Jorge Moreira, Carolina Altamirano, María Eugenia González y Cynthia Urrutia. A todos ellos por su constante ánimo y desinteresado cariño. A mis entrañables amigos del Laboratory of Plant and Environmental Biotechnology, University of Thessaly, Grecia, Chiara Perruchon, Nancy Katsoula, Evangelia Papadopoulou, Costantina Rousidou, Céline Baguelin, Vassiliki Skiada, Panagiotis Karas, Maria Tourna y profesor Dimitrios Karpouzas. También a mi gran amigo Giorgos Samakidis y su familia. A todos ellos por creer en mí, por conformar mi gran familia extranjera y llenarme de energía “ponti” durante toda mi estancia en Grecia. A mi familia, en especial a mi madre, por enseñarme a sortear las dificultades y a luchar por mis ideales. A mis sobrinos por alegrar mis días con sus sonrisas y a mí amada novia Vitalia Araya, quien con su incondicional amor y apoyo han hecho de mí un hombre pleno y de paso resoluto por la vida. Acknowledgements Acknowledgements First to all, I want to give my thanks to Dr. Maria Cristina Diez for welcoming me in her research group and lead me in carrying out this thesis. Similarly, to Dr. Dimitrios Karpouzas for his interest in my work and his constant support and advice, without which this work would have been extremely hard to perform. To the projects FONDECYT No. 1120963, CONICYT / FONDAP / 15130015 and CONICYT scholarship N° 21110817 for their continuous economic support that allowed me make several activities related to this thesis and the doctoral internship at University of Thessaly, Greece. To Dr. Francisco Matus, head of PhD program in Sciences of Natural Resources, his assistants Mariela Gonzalez and Gladys Oyarzun, who always welcomed and solved my concerns promptly and Professor Maria Eugenia Osses to witness my evolution. To the Reviewer Panel, Dr. Sergio Cuozzo of Universidad de Tucuman and Dr. Gonzalo Tortella of Universidad de La Frontera for their constant advice. To my partners and friends from Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology and PhD program from Universidad de La Frontera Chile, Raphael Cuevas, Carolina Inostroza, Alejandra Cartes, Sebastian Elgueta, Edward Hermosilla, Marcela Diaz, Viviana Lienlaf, Jorge Moreira, Carolina Altamirano, María Eugenia González and Cynthia Urrutia. To all of them for their continuous encouraging and selfless love. To my dear friends from Laboratory of Plant and Environmental Biotechnology, University of Thessaly, Greece, Chiara Perruchon, Νάνσυ Κατσούλα, Ευαγγελία Παπαδοπούλου, Κωνσταντίνα Ρουσίδου, Céline Baguelin, Βασιλική Σκιαδά, Παναγιώτης Καράς, Μαρία Τουρνά and professor Δημήτριος Καρπούζας, also to my good friend Γιώργος Σαμακίδης and his family. To all of them for trusting in me, for forming up my big foreign family and fill me with "Ponti" power throughout my stay in Greece. To my family, especially to my mother for teaching me to overcome the difficulties and to fight for my life objectives. My nephews for brightening my days with his smiles and my beloved girlfriend Vitalia Araya, who with her unconditional love and support has become a full man with an resolute step in life. Summary and outline of this thesis Summary and outline of this thesis In Chile, one of the most sold pesticides is dicarboxiamide fungicide iprodione. When iprodione is applied, it mainly reaches the soil where adapted microorganism such as degrading bacteria are able to hydrolyze iprodione into its main 3,5-dichloroaniline (3,5- DCA) metabolite through formation of 3,5-dichlorophenyl-carboxamide (metabolite I) and 3,5-dichlorophenylurea-acetate (metabolite II). However, due to iprodione and 3,5- DCA are deleterious molecules, their accumulation in the environment should to be mitigated. In this context, an interesting alternative might be given by the relationship between plant roots and degrading bacteria in a process called rhizodegradation. In this context, it is expected that rhizodegradation occurs strongly in places with a large exposition to pesticides such as the grass cover of biobed. Biobeds are biopurification systems (BPS) constituted by a biomixture generally composed by soil, peat and straw, which is covered by a grass layer offering a suitable pesticide mitigation, possibly by an active rhizodegradation. Nevertheless, it is possible that rhizodegradation failure due to several factors, being in these cases the inoculation of grass cover with characterized degrading bacteria a suitable strategy to improve the process. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis considered to evaluate the microbial degradation of iprodione and its metabolite 3,5-DCA by a degrading bacterial inoculum and their application in the grass cover of a biobed. Here, laboratory enrichments achieved the isolation of a partial 3,5-DCA-degrading Pseudomonas sp. strain and an iprodione-degrading consortium composed by an Arthrobacter sp. strain C1 and an Achromobacter sp. strain C2 from an acidic pristine soil. Posterior studies revealed that Arthrobacter sp. strain C1 was the key iprodione-degrading strain, which was able to maintain its degrading capacity in a wide range of temperature and pH and in the co-presence of other pesticides. Also was demonstrated that iprodione catabolism was done by strain C1, whereas strain C2 only could co-metabolize it. Additionally, strains showed only difficulties to catabolize metabolite I, whereas no problems to co-metabolize metabolites I and II were observed, suggesting that an enough biomass was necessary to transform metabolite I, possibly through a detoxification process. Furthermore, strain C1 demonstrated ability to degrade vinclozolin and propanil, constituting the first evidence about cross degradation among these pesticides. Afterward, antagonistic effect of indigenous soil microorganisms on the development of our strains and tolerance of Lolium perenne (ryegrass) seeds to germinate Summary and outline of this thesis in presence of high iprodione and 3,5-DCA concentration demonstrated that bacteria as well as ryegrass seeds were not noticeably affected, proposing them as suitable subjects to be tested in later rhizodegrading experiments. However, the limited metabolic ability of Pseudomonas sp. to degrade 3,5-DCA discarded its utilization in posterior steps. Rhizodegrading experiments demonstrated that iprodione removal rates were improved notoriously by inoculation of strain C1 in biomixture, rates that were enhanced when bacterial inoculum was incorporated close to the rhizosphere of ryegrass. Therefore, increasing biological activities revealed that microorganisms and roots had active roles in the removal of iprodione. Nonetheless, changes for fungi and bacterial abundances did not show clear patterns for bacterial inoculation and root presence, revealing