Decolorization does not always mean detoxification: case study of a newly isolated Pseudomonas peli for decolorization of textile wastewater

The textile industry is a favor to the Tunisian economy by offering several job positions. However, it’s not environmentally friendly. In fact, textile industries discharge high volumes of wastewater which contain several toxic pollutants such as dyes, fixator, and whiteness. In our study, Pseudomonas peli, isolated and characterized from Oued Hamdoun (center of Tunisia), was found able to decolorize textile effluent about 81 % after 24 h shaking incubation. On the other hand, the in vitro antiproliferative effects of the untreated and treated effluent was evaluated by their potential cytotoxic activity using the MTT colorimetric method against three human cancer cell lines (A549, lung cell carcinoma; HT29, colon adenocarcinoma; and MCF7, breast adenocarcinoma). Results showed that intact textile effluent and its content azo dyes didn’t inhibit the proliferation of all tested cell lines. However, the cytotoxic effect was remarkable when we tested effluent obtained after treatment by P. peli in a dose-dependent manner. This activity was attributed to the presence, in our treated effluent, of some azo products of dyes which are responsible for inhibition of human cell lines proliferation. Thus, the use of this strain for testing on the industrial scale seems impossible and disadvantageous.