Which bacteria break down soap?

Answer

Hi Chantal,

We suspect that we currently know 5% of all bacteria that exist. This means that 95% of the bacteria are still unknown. This is mainly because these unknown bacteria do not want to grow under laboratory conditions and can therefore not be studied as living organisms. Potting soil (in fact everywhere) contains both known and unknown bacteria. These bacteria (also unknown ones) can be studied by cloning DNA that occurs in samples of, for example, potting soil. That DNA then comes from all the organisms that were in that potting soil.

There are different types of soaps. To put it very roughly, you have the classic soaps that are synthesized by chemical means, and soaps that are produced by certain microorganisms (both certain yeasts (including Candida bombicola and Pseudozyma antarctica) and a bacterium (Pseudomonas aeruginosa). that are made by microorganisms are called biosurfactants, and it is obvious that they are more easily degradable than the chemically synthesized soaps.One of the possible explanations for why these microorganisms make biosurfactants is that they can eat them again later, if no other food is available.The organisms that produce the biosurfactants also break them down themselves under certain conditions.Before a soap can be marketed, it must be tested for its degradability.This is done under 2 different conditions: in the presence of oxygen (aerobic) and in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic). is present, the soaps can be broken down by organisms that need oxygen to grow: called aerobic organisms. That is the most efficient way of breaking down soap, and both chemical and bio-surfactants can be broken down in this way (bio-surfactants are broken down faster than chemical soaps). If no oxygen is present, under anaerobic conditions (for example, in water that is not stirred vigorously), decomposition is much more difficult. Under these conditions, only the biosurfactants are broken down. The organisms that break down soaps can be found in the basins and fermenters of waste treatment plants and in sewage water. To the best of my knowledge, these bacteria have not yet been well characterized.