Some marine microorganisms can degrade oil pollutants by using them as their sole carbon and energy sources. Members of this heterogenic group are called hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria. However, an unestimated number of hydrocarbonoclastic marine bacteria have not yet been characterized. In this context, a microcosm study was carried out, simulating a marine environment contaminated with oil in U...

This study describes a bench-scale attempt to bioremediate Kuwaiti, oily water and soil samples through bioaugmentation with coastal microbial mats rich in hydrocarbonoclastic bacterioflora. Seawater and desert soil samples were artificially polluted with 1% weathered oil, and bioaugmented with microbial mat suspensions. Oil removal and microbial community dynamics were monitored. In batch cult...

Selected microbial parameters were monitored in sediments from a pristine and an oil-field salt marsh. Although numbers of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria and fungi were significantly greater in the oil field, the values did not show a strong correlation with levels of hydrocarbons (r = 0.43 and r = 0.49, respectively). However, a high correlation was noted between ratios of hydrocarbonoclastic an...

Eighty-two out of the 100 hydrocarbonoclastic bacterial species that have been already isolated from oil-contaminated Kuwaiti sites, characterized by 16S rRNA nucleotide sequencing, and preserved in our private culture collection, grew successfully in a mineral medium free of any nitrogenous compounds with oil vapor as the sole carbon source. Fifteen out of these 82 species were selected for fu...

Culture-dependent methods for bacterial community analysis are currently considered obsolete; therefore, molecular techniques are usually used instead. The results of the current study on hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria in various oily habitats in Kuwait showed however, that the bacterial identities varied dramatically according to the analytical approach used. For six desert and six seawater samp...

Bioremediation of sites polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals is a major challenge. The aim of this study was the isolation and characterization of hydrocarbon-degrading and heavy metal-tolerant bacteria. Sixteen hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria were isolated by enrichment from a crude oil-contaminated soil at Aconcagua river mouth, Central Chile. Most strains were cocci-shaped and ...