Isolation of soil thermophilic bacteria and their ability to utilize propionic acidKoler, Aleksandra (Avtor) Starčič Erjavec, Marjanca (Mentor) Barta, Jiri (Komentor) extremophile microorganismsthermophilic bacteriabiotechnological processesbiodegradationvolatile organic compoundspropionic acidmicrobiological analysisBiolog EcoPlate™measuring systemsOxiTop®Over the past few decades, due to the large industrial development, enormous quantities of industrial pollutants have been released into the environment, which is a critical problem not only for their accumulation in environment but also for public health. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are one of the most important pollutants emitted from chemical, petrochemical and allied industries. VOCs emissions have heavy impact on human and animal health, vegetation and climate. Due to increasing levels of environmental pollution, there has been a concerted effort to explore the use of biological processes to remove organic pollutants from environment. This alternative is attractive because of its low energy consumption, relatively moderate operating costs and minimal by-products generation. Frequently, microorganisms in biofilters are used to break down pollutants present in air streams from chemical industry and other sources. Organisms that live at extreme temperatures, pH, pressure, salinity and in high concentrations of recalcitrant substrates represent one of the last frontiers for biotechnological and industrial discovery. Extremophiles are a rich source of enzymes that are useful in biotechnological processes due to the fact that these enzymes are better suited for harsh industrial processes. Studies suggest that some thermophilic strains occurring in natural high-temperature habitats could be efficiently used for degradation of VOCs. In this work, we isolated thermophilic microorganisms from soil samples and tested them with OxiTop® System for biodegradation of propionic acid. Tested isolates, Aeribacillus Th4 and Geobacillus Th7, have successfully utilized propionic acid at concentration of 500 mg/L. Further, we used Biolog EcoPlate™ system for the analysis of ability of isolates to utilize different carbon sources. The results showed that there are significant differences in the use of different carbon sources for growth among selected isolates.[A. Koler]20172017-09-30 07:15:31Magistrsko delo/naloga96396UDK: 579.26:582.23:602.4VisID: 146366COBISS_ID: 4821880sl