Community of Hydrocarbon-Oxidizing Bacteria in Petroleum Products on the example of Ts-1 Aviation Fuel and AI-95 Gasoline

Abstract

It has been shown that the studied petroleum products (kerosene and gasoline) contain microflocules of heterogeneous microbial biofilms, the cells of which are integrated into a polymer matrix containing acidic polysaccharides. Thirteen bacterial strains were microbiologically isolated from petroleum products, and their taxonomy was identified by the 16S rRNA sequence. Kerosene was characterized by a diverse bacterial composition including the following genera: Sphingobacterium, Alcaligenes, Rhodococcus and Deinococcus, while gasoline bacterial community included only two genera: Bacillus and Paenibacillus. Representatives of the Deinococcus genera capable of growing on the hydrocarbons were isolated from fuels for the first time. The strains isolated from gasoline (Bacillus safensis Bi13 and Bacillus sp. Bi14) proved to be the most effective biodegraders of all n-alkanes, isoalkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes and aromatic hydrocarbons, whereas the kerosene strain Rhodococcus erythropolis Bi6 effectively decomposed n-alkanes and trimethylbenzene. Both types of petroleum products contained hydrocarbon-oxidizing communities, some members of which were more active in the biodegradation of hydrocarbons, while others were capable of producing biosurfactants and had either emulsifying activity (Deinococcus sp. Bi7) or cell wall hydrophobicity (Sphingobacterium sp. Bi5 from kerosene; Bacillus pumilus Bi12 from gasoline) significantly higher than the average level. The indicated properties of the studied strains make them promising for use in bioremediation. biodegradation, petroleum products, hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria, bio-surfactants The work was carried out within the framework of the state assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (topic no. 10.5422.2017/8.9.). Investigation of microbial potential in the use hydrocarbons was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), contract no. 18-29-05067. Physicochemical research was performed within the framework of the state assignment to the TIPS RAS