Biosorption and biotransformation of crystal violet by Aeromonas hydrophila DN322p

DN322p, an offspring of Aeromonas hydrophila DN322, has the capacity to adsorb and decolorize triphenylmethane dyes in wastewater simultaneously. As a common triphenylmethane dye, crystal violet (CV) was chosen to test the decolorization characteristics of DN322p. Within 0.5 h, the strain DN322p adsorbed a large amount of CV, producing a deep-colored cell pellet and colorless supernatant. The colors of the cell pellet and supernatant lightened over time. The supernatant and dichloromethane extract of the cell pellet both showed conspicuous CV and leuco CV (LCV) characteristic absorbance peaks at 590 nm and 260 nm, respectively, in the UV-vis spectral analysis. This finding indicated that the DN322p cells can adsorb the two dyes. A 99% (w/w) decolorization rate was achieved within 2.5 h with shaking at 30°C for 50 mg CV·L^?1. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the dichloromethane extract of the supernatant and cell pellet confirmed that CV was mainly converted into its leuco form. Dead cells had a similar adsorption capacity with living cells. About 90% of CV in the dye solution (50 mg·L^?1) was removed by autoclaved cells with an optical delnsity at 600 nm (OD₆₀₀) above 1.0.