Isolation, Screening and Activity of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria from Harsh Soils

Abstract

The study of microbial communities in relation to their ecology, interaction, and genetics must be covered in Qatar with special soil, weather and water. Microorganisms of an environment never having been exposed to such factors do not have necessarily the ability to resist. However, when exposed to such factors, they are often able to adapt, that is to say the potential to acquire metabolic potentialities by recruitment vertical or horizontal specific genes, or recruitment of metabolic pathways present in the genome but not expressed. In polluted environments with oil hydrocarbons, the phenomena of horizontal/vertical transfers, mutations and adaptation to environmental stressors increase the metabolic capabilities of bacteria, including expanding their range of substrates, and allow their adaptation to new substrates. Extensive research on such fields is often focusing on genetic studies, meaning that the genes pools and expression as well as species occurrence are considered as basis. However, from the biotechnological point of view, the cell is considered, as an analogy, as factory. All its components (physical structure and the functions of the organelles and metabolic activities) are strictly regulated by regulatory machineries strictly controlled by the microenvironment. This approach will help answer the question on the different microbial communities that are available in Qatar soil and how they are unique in some biological activities. Indeed, the focus of our research is to characterize and demonstrate the diversity of biological activities within bacterial communities and strains of the same species. Here, we consider the bacterial activities related to polluting oil hydrocarbondegrading communities, including those which are biosurfactant-producers, Here, we showed that the isolation and screening strategy affected a lot, the selection of the hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, by combining the bacterial tolerance to hydrocarbon toxicity to the hydrocarbons degradative activities. We demonstrated that several Qatari isolates are able to shift their activity from a range of hydrocarbons to another by the effect of the nitrogen source, C/N ratio and organic nitrogen source. By application of Factorial Investigation of Strains' Potentiality to Degrade Hydrocarbons, which is original in the attempt to integrate the study of the most essential nutritional elements as well as their interactions in one experimental frame, we demonstrated diversity of nutritional requirements among the same bacterial group of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain, isolated in Qatar. Strains' response to altered growth conditions varied substantially; although they were from the same taxonomical group.

Isolation and Screening of Diesel Degrading Bacteria from Ship Dismantling Facility at Tanjungjati, Madura, Indonesia

“…At the location, pH and temperature of the seawater and soil samples were measured by pH meter (Cyberscan pH 510, Singapore) and thermometer (OneMed, Indonesia), seawater salinity was measured in a laboratory by salinity meter (pH Onlab, USA). All collected samples were stored in an icebox at 4 °C [13] and then transferred to the laboratory for further analysis.…”

Isolation of Potent Hydrocarbon Degrading Micro-Organisms and Its Application in Bioremediation

“…The composition is as follows: MgSO47H2O (0.2g/l), K2HPO4(1.0g/l), KH2PO4 (1.0g/l), FeCl3 (0.05g/l), NH4NO3 (1.0g/l), CaCl2 (0.02g/l) with pH 7.2. For isolation agar (20g/l) was added for BH agar [2]. One gram of tar ball samples was inoculated in 250 ml flasks containing 100 ml of BH broth.…”

“…On the basis of Gram's nature the Gram-negative colonies were selected and partially identified referring to Bergey's Manual [5] using various tests like oxidase test,indole, methyl red test, Voges Prausker test, glucose,nitrate, lactose and citrate utilisation,6.5% NaCl tolerance, H2S and CO2 production etc [1,2,4,[6][7][8].…”

“…The amount of natural crude oil spoilage was estimated to be 600,000 metric tons per year with a range of uncertainty of 200,000 metric tons per years. Biodegradation has at least three important processes: first, they cause a minor change in an organic molecule leaving the main structure still impact; second, degradation can also be thought of as fragmentation, where the original structure of the molecule can still be recognized in the fragments and finally, a complete mineralization of a compound to inorganic form [2]. Outmoded methods of spillage cleanup includes the use of mechanical devices such as skimmers, oil blooms, but, these methods are very expensive and labour intensive process.…”

Biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbon by Micrococcus sp. in form of wax ball

“…Biodegradation experiment was done in mineral salt media (MSM) (pH 7.2) (Al Disi et al, 2016). Media were sterilized at 121°C for 20 min.…”