Study of the potential of Rhodococcus strains for degradation of the pesticide Glyphosate (Roundup)

The experiments were aimed at studying the tolerance of the studied strains of Rhodococcus sp. M1 and Rhodococcus sp. D1 to the presence of Glyphosate (N- (phosphonomethyl) glycine) in the culture medium. A rich organic medium (YEPD), a mineral medium (VD) with 1% glucose and a mineral medium without a carbon source were used for cultivation. Each of the media was supplemented with Glyphosate, up to 0.3 g/l. The obtained data showed that the tested strains grew well and were tolerant to the presence of Glyphosate in the media used. The purpose of the following experiments was to determine the ability of both strains to degrade glyphosate. By GC-MS analyses, it was found that a strain of Rhodococcus sp. M1 utilized glyphosate as the only carbon source, degrading 36% of it within 120 hours. The other strain, over the same time period, degraded 40% of the pesticide tested. Glyphosate is one of the most widely used organophosphate herbicides in modern agriculture. The presented studies on the potential of new strains of Rhodococcus for its biodegradation contribute to the complementarity of the known techniques for bioremediation of polluted environment.