Bioremediation of Petroleum-Contaminated Soils with Biosurfactant-Producing Degraders Isolated from the Native Desert Soils.

ABSTRACT: A crude oil spill in 2014 resulted in extensive soil contamination of the hyper arid Evrona Nature Reserve in Israel's Negev Desert. The contaminated soils became highly hydrophobic, threatening the existence of plants in the habitat. We hypothesized that bioaugmenting the soil with indigenous biosurfactant-producing, hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria (HDB) would accelerate the reduction in the soil's hydrophobicity. We aimed to isolate and characterize biosurfactant-producing HDBs from the desert-contaminated soil and test if they can be used for augmenting the soil. Twelve hydrocarbon-degrading strains were isolated, identified as Pseudomonas, and classified as biosurfactants "producing" and "nonproducing". Inoculating 10⁹ CFU/g of "producing" strains into the polluted soi

SUBMITTER: Li Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9694877 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature