Hydrocarbon degradation in relation to cell-surface hydrophobicity among bacterial hydrocarbon degraders from petroleum-contaminated Kuwait desert environment

Forty six bacterial isolates able to grow on crude oil were isolated from various hydrocarbon-contaminated sites in Kuwait. The extent of crude oil degradation varied over a wide range (1–87%) among the isolates. Isolates were predominantly Gram-positive bacteria (79% of total isolates) belonging to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International biodeterioration & biodegradation 2009-04, Vol.63 (3), p.273-279
Main Authors: Obuekwe, Christian O., Al-Jadi, Zamya K., Al-Saleh, Esmaeil S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acinetobacter
Adhesion
Alcaligenes
Bacillus
Bacteria
Bacterial cell-surface hydrophobicity
Burkholderia
Correlation analysis
Crude oil
Degradation
Desert environments
Hydrocarbon-degradation
Hydrocarbons
Hydrophobicity
Klebsiella
Paenibacillus
Polystyrene resins
Pseudomonas
Statistical analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Forty six bacterial isolates able to grow on crude oil were isolated from various hydrocarbon-contaminated sites in Kuwait. The extent of crude oil degradation varied over a wide range (1–87%) among the isolates. Isolates were predominantly Gram-positive bacteria (79% of total isolates) belonging to the genera Bacillus (93%) and Paenibacillus (7%). Among the few Gram-negative isolates were from the genera Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Klebsiella, Burkholderia, Pseudomonas, and Williamsia. Analyses of their cell-surface hydrophobicity (CSH) by various methods equally showed a wide variation among the isolates. About 74% of isolates that degraded significant amounts of crude oil (>40% degradation) possessed high level of CSH, while 58% of all the isolates exhibited high levels of CSH. Statistical analyses showed significantly high correlation between the ability to degrade crude oil and CSH. The ability of the isolates to bind to polystyrene and salt-aggregation test as measures of CSH were more strongly correlated with hydrocarbon-degrading ability than adherence to hydrocarbons.
ISSN:0964-8305
1879-0208
DOI:10.1016/j.ibiod.2008.10.004