Study of Adaptations in Bacterial Isolates Inhabiting Petroleum Contaminated Soil

Oil spills and petroleum based pollutions are very common which cause a potential threat to both terrestrial as well as aquatic life. Bioremediation has become an alternative way to remedy. These microorganisms can degrade a wide range of target constituents present in oil sludge. An ability to isolate high numbers of certain oil degrading microorganisms from an environment is commonly taken as evidence that those microorganisms are the active degraders of that environment. A number of well-known microorganisms are responsible for the biodegradation of oil hydrocarbons. Bacteria have evolved regulatory systems that ensure the synthesis of enzymes so that the initial attack on these compounds is induced only when required. Some of these organisms have evolved an additional and highly effective system for responding to a variety of potential growth substrate. Few petroleum degrading bacteria were isolated from petroleum contaminated soil. The isolates were shown to be capable of degrading petrol at higher rates. Moreover they were very fast growing in petroleum contaminated soil as compared to non-indigenous bacteria belonging to the same type. The protein profile by SDS PAGE indicated presence of few new protein and also some critical modifications in some protein bands of isolated bacteria.