Evaluating the phenotypic and functional diversity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon utilizing bacteria isolated from Petroleum refinery soil

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon utilizing soil bacteria were isolated from different sites in petroleum refinery premises at Mathura, India. A total of twenty six bacterial type strains with different colony morphologies and phenotypic traits were isolated. These bacteria could utilize, as sole carbon source, an equimolar mixture of four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons namely anthracene, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene at 50 ppm concentration. The profile of each bacterial isolate was matched with the phenotypes of the standard bacterial genera listed in Bergey's manual of Determinative Bacteriology. The isolates were identified as members of diverse genera namely- Bacillus, Acinetobacter, Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Lysinibacillus, Brevibacterium and Serratia. This study emphasized the need to develop enrichment strategies using these isolates for bioremediation of PAH contaminated soils.