Decolorization and biodegradation of Rubine GFL by microbial consortium GG-BL in sequential aerobic/microaerophilic process.

This study represents the development of a new batch method by consortium GG-BL using two microbial cultures viz., Galactomyces geotrichum MTCC 1360 and Brevibacillus laterosporus MTCC 2298, by varying environmental conditions for the decolorization and biodegradation of Rubine GFL. Consortium was found to give better decolorization and degradation of Rubine GFL as compared to the individual microorganism at aerobic/microaerophilic process. The consortial metabolic activity of these strains lead to 100% decolorization of Rubine GFL (50 mg/L) within 30 h with significant reduction in chemical oxygen demand (79%) and total organic carbon (68%). Induction in the activities of laccase, veratryl alcohol oxidase, tyrosinase, azo reductase, and riboflavin reductase suggested their role in the decolorization process. Nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis showed differential induction pattern of oxidoreductive enzymes during decolorization of the dye at different incubation temperatures. The degradation of Rubine GFL into different metabolites by individual organism and in consortium was confirmed using high performance thin layer chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis. Phytotoxicity studies revealed nontoxic nature of the metabolites of Rubine GFL.