Degradation Characteristics and Community Structure of a Hydrocarbon Degrading Bacterial Consortium

A hydrocarbon degrading bacterial consortium KO5-2 was isolated from oil-contaminated soil of Karamay in Xinjiang, China, which could remove 56.9% of 10 g/L total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH) at 30 ℃ after 7 days of incubation, and could also remove 100% of fluorene, 98.93% of phenanthrene and 65.73% of pyrene within 3, 7 and 9 days, respectively. Twelve strains from six different genera were isolated from KO5-2 and only eight ones were able to utilize the TPH. The denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis(DGGE) was used to investigate the microbial community shifts in five different carbon sources(including TPH, saturated hydrocarbons, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene). The test results indicated that the community compositions of KO5-2 in carbon sources of TPH and saturated hydrocarbons, respectively, were roughly the same, while they were distinctive in the three different carbon sources of PAHs. Rhodococcus sp. and Pseudomonas sp. could survive in the five kinds of carbon sources. Bacillus sp., Sphingomonas sp. and Ochrobactrum sp. likely played key roles in the degradation of saturated hydrocarbons, PAHs and phenanthrene, respectively. This study showed that specific bacterial phylotypes were associated with different contaminants and complex interactions between bacterial species, and the medium conditions influenced the biodegradation capacity of the microbial communities involved in bioremediation processes.