Reduction of oxidative stress by bioaugmented strain Pseudomonas sp. HF-1 and selection of potential biomarkers in sequencing batch reactor treating tobacco wastewater.

Oxidative stress induced by toxic pollutants is generally responsible for the poor performance of many sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) treating organic wastewater. In this study, the oxidative stress in two SBR systems that dealt with tobacco wastewater was monitored by measuring four popular biomarkers (superoxide dismutase, SOD; catalase, CAT; glutathione, GSH; and malondialdehyde, MDA). In the non-BA (non-bio-augmented) system, more intense oxidative stress was induced by a higher concentration of nicotine in tobacco wastewater, and excessive oxidative stress was induced by 250 mg/l of nicotine at the final stage. However, when a nicotine-degrading bacterial strain Pseudomonas sp. HF-1 was added to the BA (bio-augmented) system, the oxidative stress was significantly reduced compared to the non-BA system (p < 0.01).These results suggested that the oxidative stress was mainly induced by nicotine in the SBR treatment of tobacco wastewater, and that bioaugmentation with strain HF-1 would be a potential strategy to reduce the oxidative stress and thereby improve the performance in SBRs. Additionally, the positive correlation between the nicotine content and CAT, GSH and MDA activity in both systems implied that these parameters can be used as biomarkers for reflecting the performance of SBR treatment of tobacco wastewater, and in monitoring nicotine environmental pollution.