The genomics of hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria

Abstract

Due to the increase in industrialization, environmental pollution by hydrocarbon is almost inevitable. Hydrocarbon-based products are major contaminants of soil and water. Hydrocarbon-based products are a major source of energy but contamination by hydrocarbon-based products is of great importance due to their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic nature and their ability to cause depression, low oxygen, poor food and water intake by plants leading to poor yield and hence food insecurity which affect man and other organisms adversely. However, bacteria can utilize hydrocarbon thereby bringing about their degradation. Though the process is complex, it depends on the nature, amount of hydrocarbon present and the environmental conditions at the time of contamination and remediation but the appropriate nutrients and environmental conditions must be put in place and maintained for the bacteria to achieve maximum results if they possess the needed enzymatic capabilities to catabolize hydrocarbon. Instead of the conventional mechanical and chemical methods which are expensive and can produce more toxic substances, biological methods involving the use of microorganisms that are natural and more sustainable are recently being employed. The use of 16S rRNA genes when extracted from the bacterial isolate, can be characterized and amplified with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using different primer sets 27F: GAGTTTGATCCTGGCTCAG and 1492R: GGTTACCTTGTTACGACT. The genomic study is important when studying the bacterial community diversity and dynamics in oil-polluted ecosystems to fully describe the active microorganisms involved in hydrocarbon degradation. Bacteria like Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Alcaligenes, Arthrobacter, Micrococcus species and a lot others have been identified by several researchers to be capable of utilizing hydrocarbons thereby degrading them and thus resulting in bioremediation which is safe, easy, cheap and eco-friendly