Isoprene-Degrading Bacteria from Soils Associated with Tropical Economic Crops and Framework Forest Trees

Isoprene, a volatile hydrocarbon emitted largely by plants, plays an important role in regulating the climate in diverse ways, such as reacting with free radicals in the atmosphere to produce greenhouse gases and pollutants. Isoprene is both deposited and formed in soil, where it can be consumed by some soil microbes, although much remains to be understood about isoprene consumption in tropical soils. In this study, isoprene-degrading bacteria from soils associated with tropical plants were investigated by cultivation and cultivation-independent approaches. Soil samples were taken from beneath selected framework forest trees and economic crops at different seasons, and isoprene degradation in soil microcosms was measured after 96 h of incubation. Isoprene losses were 4–31% and 15–52% in soils subjected to a lower (7.2 × 105 ppbv) and a higher (7.2 × 106 ppbv) concentration of isoprene, respectively. Sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that bacterial communities in soil varied significantly across plant categories (framework trees versus economic crops) and the presence of isoprene, but not with isoprene concentration or season. Eight isoprene-degrading bacterial strains were isolated from the soils and, among these, four belong to the genera Ochrobactrum, Friedmanniella, Isoptericola and Cellulosimicrobium, which have not been previously shown to degrade isoprene.