Isolation and Characterization of Alkane Hydrocarbons-Degrading Enterobacter ludwigii strain D8 from Petroleum-Contaminated Soils

A bacterial strain has been isolated from petroleum contaminated soil with in southeastern Turkey. This isolated strain was characterized to determine its hydrocarbon biodegradation potential. Phenotypic features and of 16 S gene sequence analysis of rRNA revealed that strain D8 belongs to the Enterobacter genus and most closely resembles Enterobacter ludwigii (100%). The optimum temperature and pH values for the growth of E. ludwigii D8 were found to be 30°C and 5.0, respectively. This bacterial strain grew in long and medium chain hydrocarbons such as 1% decane, pentadecane and squalene separately at the end of 3 day incubation in the basal medium (BM) under optimum conditions. It was shown that E. ludwigii strain D8 degrades about 27% of crude oil incubated for 5 days, while it degrades 29% of pentadecane after 3 days of incubation determined by Gas chromatography-MS analysis. The biodegradation potential of petroleum hydrocarbons of E. ludwigii strain D8 isolated and characterized in this study indicates that this strain may play a role in the bioremediation process.