Bioremediation of PAH by Streptomyces sp.

An actinobacterium designated as PAH-13 was isolated from bitumen (heavy crude oil) soil collected from Mathura refinery, India. The isolate was screened for its ability to degrade 3-4 ring PAH compounds (anthracene, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene) in minimal medium supplemented with 0.1% yeast extract as a co-substrate. The isolate was found to degrade four PAHs between 28%-92% within 15 days at 100 ppm level. In addition, the strain showed good extracellular production of biosurfactant measured as emulsification index (55%) in the presence of glucose as co-metabolic source. The isolate PAH-13 was identified as Streptomyces rochei by phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequence. The above findings indicated the potential of S.rochei for bioremediation of PAHs. This is first report confirming the involvement of S.rochei in PAHs degradation.