Maurizio Catalfamo

Italian National Research Council | CNR · IRBIM (Istituto per le Risorse Biologiche e le Biotecnologie Marine)

Daily industrial activities pose a significant risk of environmental contamination through the release of toxic chemicals, including heavy metals, radionuclides and organic pollutants. Coastal marine areas, estuaries and harbors serve as primary hotspots for such pollution, with marine sediments acting as the ultimate sink for industrial and urban...

The peculiar biotechnological applications of Oleispira spp. in the natural cleansing of oil-polluted marine systems stimulated the study of the phenotypic characteristics of the Oleispira antarctica RB-8(T) strain and modifications of these characteristics in relation to different growth conditions. Bacterial abundance, cell size and morphology va...

Aims The aims of this study were: i) the characterization of the structure of the indigenous microbial community associated with the sediments under study; ii) the isolation and characterization of microbial consortia able to degrade the aged hydrocarbons contaminating the sediments and iii) the assessment of related biodegradation capability of se...

Several studies have indicated that plants are good sources of antimicrobial agents and pharmaceuticals. The present study is focused to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of 11 citrus essential oils (EOs) and terpenes (T), against 18 bacterial pathogenic strains and 4 Candida sp. strains. Volatile compounds present in the citrus EOs were determi...

The present study is focused to evaluate the effects of Bergamot Essential Oil and its terpene against fish pathogen species. The antimicrobial activity was investigated in vitro against Vibrio anguillarum strains. The chemical composition was also analysed. Results showed that both essential oils were effective against this species, reducing bacte...

Microbial communities inhabiting the deep-sea salt-saturated anoxic lakes of the Eastern Mediterranean operate under harsh physical-chemical conditions that are incompatible with the lifestyle of common marine microorganisms. Here, we investigated a stable three-component microbial consortium obtained from the brine of the recently discovered deep-...

Three bacterial isolates identified as Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2, Rhodococcus erythropolis HS4 and Pseudomonas stutzeri SDM, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, were isolated from crude oil enrichments of natural seawater. Single strains and four bacterial consortia designed by mixing the single bacterial cultures respectively in the following rati...

During a preliminary microbiological screening in samples of bilge water, different oil degrading bacterial strains have been isolated. In particular two strains, named PON-SEA-05 and PON-SEA-07, were clustered with Alcanivorax genus (with similarity of 100% and 99%, respectively); the other isolated strains were related to Pseudomonas genus. This...

Ammonium-oxidizing chemoautotrophic members of Thaumarchaea are proposed to be the key players in the assimilation of bicarbonate in the dark (ABD). However, this process may also involve heterotrophic metabolic pathways, such as fixation of CO2 via various anaplerotic reactions. We collected samples from the depth of 4,900 m at the Matapan-Vavilov...

The purpose of present study was the simulation of an oil spill accompanied by burial of significant amount of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs) in coastal sediments. Approximately 1000 kg of sediments collected in Messina harbor were spiked with Bunker C furnace fuel oil (6500 ppm). The rapid consumption of oxygen by aerobic heterotrophs created highly...

The evaluation of purity and quality of bergamot oil has always been one of the objectives of the Experimental Station for the Citrus Essences and Derivatives Industry in Reggio Calabria, Italy. The results of studies carried out over the years have allowed determination of certain parameters of the variability intervals within which bergamot oils...

A procedure for the extraction and determination of pulegone enanthiomers in mint essential oils and mint products (syrups, dried leaves, toothpaste, lozenges, candy and chewing-gum) was developed. The compounds were recovered from the food matrices by employing a simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) technique with a Likens-Nickerson apparatu...

The enantiomeric distribution of essential oils obtained from "Femminello Comune" and "Monachello" lemon varieties. The Chiral analysis, performed by multidimensional gaschromatography, was extended to the terpinen-4-ol and a-terpineol. The variability ranges was definined and can be used for genuineness evaluation of lemon essential oils.

This paper describes a fully automated, multidimensional, double-oven GC-GC system, developed in our laboratory. The system is based on the use of mechanical valves which allow the multitransfer of different fractions during the same GC analysis and the use of the two GC independently when the multitransfer options is not used. Pneumatic and electr...

A fully-automated, tandem high-resolution gas chromatography (HRGC-HRGC) system is developed for multitransfer operations. The system allows quantitative transfers from the precolumn to the main column without time restriction and makes it possible to perform multiple transfers using different temperature programs for the two GC ovens and columns,...

The enantiomeric distribution of beta-pinene, sabinene, limonene, linalool, terpinen-4-ol, and alpha-terpineol in mandarin oils has been determined using a fully-automated, multidimensional, double-oven GC-GC system. This system allows fractions to be multitransferred during the same GC analysis and the use of the two GCs independently when the mul...

The enantiomeric distribution of sabinene, β-pinene, limonene, linalool, terpinen-4-ol, and α-terpineol for cold-pressed Key lime oils type A and type B, cold-pressed Persian lime oils, and distilled lime oils has been determined by a fully automated, multidimensional, double-oven (GC–GC) system using a SE-52 precolumn and a β-cyclodextrin main col...