Study of bacterial community responsible for biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons isolated from different contaminated sites of Rajasthan

Abstract

Pollution from the industries quite has a lot of undesirable environmental newlineinfluences around the world. One of the major derivatives of petroleum product is newline4T engine oil, which formed by fractional distillation of crude oil. Engine oil is newlineconsidered as a most hazardous substance due to its high toxicity and low newlinebiodegradability in the environment. Contamination through engine oil occurs, due newlineto accidental spills, underground pipeline leakages or from various industrial newlineoperations like its production and transportation. 4T engine oil made up of a newlinecomplex mixture of aliphatic and aromatic compounds. Bioremediation of these newlinehydrocarbons by the use of microbes considered to be a cost-effective, reliable newlinetechnology, due to its feasibility with nature, and environment-friendly approach. newlineThe present investigation aims to isolate petroleum hydrocarbons degrading newlinemicrobes from petroleum contaminated soil from four sites of Rajasthan. Banswara, newlineSambhar, Jaisalmer and Ganganagar are the sampling sites for collection of newlinepetroleum contaminated soil. Contaminated soil samples were collected in sterile newlinepoly bags and stored in the laboratory for the further study. Physico- chemical newlineproperties of Petroleum Contaminated and Normal Soil samples were examined. newlineHeavy metals were analysed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). The newlineTotal Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) were analysed through GC/MS. The Results newlineshowed the presence of heavy metals in all the petroleum contaminated soils. TPH newlinewas found highest in Sambhar Petroleum Contaminated Soil (SPCS). Significant newlinevariations were observed in between normal soil and petroleum contaminated soil newlinesamples. newlineIsolation of hydrocarbons degrading microorganisms was carried out by newlineenrichment culture technique. Bushnell Haas Media (BHM) supplemented with 1% newline(v/v) 4T engine oil was used as a carbon source. Pure colonies were obtained newlinethrough the streak plate method. All isolates were characterized on the basis of their newlinemorphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics.