Asaad M.R. Al-Taee¹ , Fadhil N. Alkanany¹ , Satar A. Gmais¹ , Hassan A.N. Alshawi²

1 Marine science center, University of Basra, Iraq
2 Research and Quality Control, SOC, Iraq
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol. 7, No. 18   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2017.07.0018
Received: 24 Apr., 2017    Accepted: 01 Jun., 2017    Published: 15 Jun., 2017

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Al-Taee A.M.R., Alkanany F.N., Gmais S.A., and Alshawi H.A.N., 2017, Biodegradation of aliphatic hydrocarbons by bacteria isolated from Khor Al-Zubair channel, southern Iraq, International Journal of Marine Science, 7(18): 176-182 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2017.07.0018)

Four bacterial strains capable of using crude oil as the sole carbon source were isolated from Khor Al-Zubair channel, southern Iraq. The isolates were identified as Vibrio vulnificus; Brevundimonas diminuta/vesicularis; Ochrobactrum anthropic and Sphingomonas paucimobilis by the Vitek II system. The bacteria grew aerobically in liquid culture containing four concentrations (0.25%, 0.5%, 1% and 2% v/v) of crude oil at 30ᵒC for a seven day period. The components of crude oil degraded by the isFolates were determined by capillary gas chromatography. Vibrio vulnificus was the most effective bacteria to degrade crude oil, especially in concentration 2% (93.05%). Meanwhile, Ochrobactrum anthropi was the lowest (9.63%) in concentration 0.25%.

Khor Al-Zubair; Bacteria; Vitek 2 system; Gas Chromatography