Biodegradation of crude oil by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia fergusonii isolated from the Goan coast

Petroleum hydrocarbons are major pollutants of the marine environment. Bioremediation is a promising approach for treating such contaminated environments. The present study aims at isolating naturally occurring bacteria from the coast of Goa, India and to study their hydrocarbonoclastic capacity. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia fergusonii were isolated from a crude oil-contaminated sediment sample using diesel oil as the sole carbon source. The capability of the enriched culture to degrade crude oil was estimated using microcosm studies under saline conditions. Based on GC-MS analysis, the culture was found to degrade n-alkanes at a higher rate compared to polyaromatic hydrocarbons. It was also found that the culture degraded alkylated polyaromatic hydrocarbons much less than unalkylated ones. Alkanes ranging from C12 to C33 were highly degraded compared to n-C34. This study shows bioremediation of crude oil in saline (3% NaCl) conditions by naturally existing bacteria isolated from the marine environment.