Microbiome and imputed metagenome study of crude and refined petroleum-oil-contaminated soils: Potential for hydrocarbon degradation and plant-growth promotion

Microbial community structure of crude petroleum oil (CP)- and refined petroleum oil (RP)-contaminated soil wasinvestigated. The taxonomical and functional diversity of such soils can be a great source of information about microbialcommunity and genes involved in petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) degradation. In this study, microbial diversity of soilscontaminated by RP from urban biome of Pune, India, and CP from agricultural biome of Gujarat, India, were assessed by16S rRNA amplicon sequencing on Illumina MiSeq platform. Association between the soil microbial community and thephysicochemical parameters were investigated for their potential role. In RP- and CP-contaminated soils, the microbiomeanalysis showed Proteobacteria as most dominant phylum followed by Actinobacteria. Interestingly, Firmicutes were mostprevailing in a CP-contaminated sample while they were least prevailing in RP-contaminated soils. Soil moisture content,total organic carbon and organic nitrogen content influenced the taxa diversity in these soils. Species richness was more inRP as compared to CP soils. Further prediction of metagenome using PICRUSt revealed that the RP and CP soils containmicrobial communities with excellent metabolic potential for PHC degradation. Microbial community contributing to genesessential for soil health improvement and plant growth promotion was also gauged. Our analysis showed promising resultsfor future bioaugmentation assisted phytoremediation (BAP) strategies for treating such soils.

Screening, stability and antibacterial potential of rhamnolipids from Pseudomonas sp., isolated from hydrocarbon contaminated soil.

Surfactant plays an important role in industrial application such as oil recovery, lubricants and emulsifier. But chemical surfactants are toxic to human and other small animals. In recent years, biological based surfactants have gained increasing attention due to their ecofriendly in nature. The present study was focused to isolate biosurfactant producing bacteria, their stability and antibacterial ability from hydrocarbon contaminated and uncontaminated soil collected from different locations in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. Biosurfactant producing bacteria were screened by following the haemolytic activity, drop collapsing test, emulsion against kerosene and was further confirmed through surface activity. The stability of the biosurfactant was determined by different physic-chemical conditions like pH, temperature and salinity. A total of 37 strains were selected in three different samples based on cultural characters and finally only 7 strains were confirmed as positive for biosurfactant. Among these strain H11 was considered as potential based on emulsification index (44%), surface activity (34.45 x 10-3 nm-1) and surface tension (23.17 x 10-3 nm-1) and was identified as Pseudomonas sp. The emulsification activity was stable at broad range of pH (4-12), temperature (4-120°C) and salt concentration (0-10%). The biosurfactant was further characterized in HPLC and one major peak was observed at a retention time of 2.033. The antibacterial activity of biosurfactant was high against gram positive pathogenic bacteria than gram negative bacteria. The rhamnolipid produced Pseudomonas sp. may be used as a tool to manage the oil pollution and to control the disease causing bacteria.