title: Isolation, screening, and characterization of surface-active agent-producing, oil-degrading marine bacteria of Mumbai Harbor.
abstract: Diverse marine bacterial species predominantly found in oil-polluted seawater produce diverse surface-active agents. Surface-active agents produced by bacteria are classified into two groups based on their molecular weights, namely biosurfactants and bioemulsifiers. In this study, surface-active agent-producing, oil-degrading marine bacteria were isolated using a modified Bushnell-Haas medium with high-speed diesel as a carbon source from three oil-polluted sites of Mumbai Harbor. Surface-active agent-producing bacterial strains were screened using nine widely used methods. The nineteen bacterial strains showed positive results for more than four surface-active agent screening methods; further, these strains were characterized using biochemical and nucleic acid sequencing methods. Based on the results, the organisms belonged to the genera Acinetobacter, Alcanivorax, Bacillus, Comamonas, Chryseomicrobium, Halomonas, Marinobacter, Nesterenkonia, Pseudomonas, and Serratia. The present study confirmed the prevalence of surface-active agent-producing bacteria in the oil-polluted waters of Mumbai Harbor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biotechnology, Naval Materials Research Laboratory, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Shil Badlapur Road, Anandnagar-Post, Additional Ambernath-East, Thane District, 421 506, Maharashtra, India. Electronic address: mohanmarinemicrobiol@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rajamani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohanram
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biotechnology, Naval Materials Research Laboratory, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Shil Badlapur Road, Anandnagar-Post, Additional Ambernath-East, Thane District, 421 506, Maharashtra, India. Electronic address: drchandrajag@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chandrakant
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jagtap
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biotechnology, Naval Materials Research Laboratory, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, Shil Badlapur Road, Anandnagar-Post, Additional Ambernath-East, Thane District, 421 506, Maharashtra, India. Electronic address: pradeep19verma@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pradeep
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000150:Acinetobacter; D001407:Bacillus; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D010578:Petroleum / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D011549:Pseudomonas; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D013501:Surface-Active Agents
keywords: Biodegradation; Bioemulsifier; Biosurfactant; Surface active agents