Isolation and molecular identification of fluoranthene degrading bacteria from the mangrove sediments in South of Iran

Abstract

Mangrove forests are of the wooden plants which are susceptible to contamination by oil. They are like a reservoir which could absorb much of PAH compositions from the oil contaminations. On the other hand, the contaminated sediments contain many types of indigenous microorganisms able to degrade PAH compositions. This study was designed to isolate indigenous microorganisms which are able to degrade biologically fluoranthene from Persian Gulf sediments and analyze their growth kenetics. The isolated bacteria included Bacillus circulans , Alcaligenes faecalis , Enterobacter , Listeria and Staphylococcus. They showed good power to degrade the fluoranthene. The fluoranthene degraded by them was assessed by HPLC so the Bacillus circulans and Alcaligenes faecalis were the strongest isolated bacteria and ten days after the enrichment they degraded the fluoranthene 73.4 and 71 percent, respectively. Also the Enterobacter, Listeria and Staphylococcus could degrade the fluoranthene 67.4, 54 and 48.70 percent, respectively .