Rhizosphere strain of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas chlororaphis</Emphasis> capable of degrading naphthalene in the presence of cobalt/nickel

Combination of genetic systems of degradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, resistance to heavy metals, and promotion of plant growth/protection is one of the approaches to the creation of polyfunctional strains for phytoremediation of soils after co-contamination with organic pollutants and heavy metals. A plant-growth-promoting rhizosphere strain Pseudomonas chlororaphis PCL1391 (pBS216^*, pBS501) has been obtained, in which the nah operon of plasmid pBS216 provides naphthalene biodegradation and the cnr-like operon of plasmid pBS501 provides resistance to cobalt and nickel due to the extrusion of heavy metal cations from the cells. In the presence of 100 µM of nickel, the viability, growth rate, and naphthalene biodegradation efficiency of the resistant strain PCL1391 (pBS216^*, pBS501) were much higher as compared with the sensitive PCL1391 (pBS216). During the growth of the resistant strain, in contrast to the sensitive strain, nickel (100 µM) had no inhibiting effect on the activity of the key enzymes of naphthalene biodegradation.