Isolation of hydrocarbon-degrading and biosurfactant-producing bacteria and assessment their plant growth-promoting traits

• Forty-two hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial strains were isolated.
• Isolated strains belong to the genera Rhodococcus, Rahnella, Serratia and Proteus.
• Twelve strains are promising candidates for the production of biosurfactants.
• Analysed strains have different activity of mechanisms characteristic for PGPB.
• CD 106, CD 111, CD 126, CD 132 showed the best properties of tested features.

Forty-two hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial strains were isolated from the soil heavily contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons. Forty-one strains were identified based on their whole-cell fatty acid profiles using the MIDI-MIS method. Thirty-three of them belong to species Rhodococcus erythropolis, while the others to the genera Rahnella (4), Serratia (3) and Proteus (1). Isolates were screened for their ability to produce biosurfactants/bioemulsifiers. For all of them the activity of several mechanisms characteristic for plant growth-promoting bacteria was also determined. In order to investigate surface active and emulsifying abilities of isolates following methods: oil-spreading, blood agar, methylene blue agar and determination of emulsification index, were used. Among studied bacteria 12 strains (CD 112, CD 126, CD 131, CD 132, CD 135, CD 147, CD 154, CD 155, CD 158, CD 161, CD 166 and CD 167) have been chosen as promising candidates for the production of biosurfactants and/or bioemulsifiers. Among them 2 strains (R. erythropolis CD 126 and Rahnella aquatilis CD 132) had the highest potential to be used in the bioaugmentation of PH-contaminated soil. Moreover, 15 of tested strains (CD 105, CD 106, CD 108, CD 111, CD 116, CD 120, CD 124, CD 125, CD 130, CD 132, CD 134, CD 154, CD 156, CD 161 and CD 170) showed the activity of four mechanisms (ACC deaminase activity, IAA and siderophore production, phosphate solubilization) considered to be characteristic for plant growth-promoting bacteria. Two of them (R. erythropolis CD 106 and R. erythropolis CD 111) showed the highest activity of above-mentioned mechanisms and thus are considered as promising agents in microbe assisted phytoremediation.