Isolation and characterization of Candida vishwanathii strain TERI MS1 for degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in marine environment

Abstract

In an ongoing prospecting project for developing a bioremediation strategy for marine oil spills, a strain of yeast was isolated from petroleum crude oil contaminated sample. The strain, TERI MS1 was initially characterized biochemically, subsequently identified as Candida vishwanathii based on the sequence analysis of D1/D2 domain of 26S rRNA, and further confirmed by sequencing of internal transcribed spacer. The strain C. vishwanathii was able to utilize petroleum crude oil in natural seawater with 49 percent degradation in 72 h. The strain has high affinity toward degradation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons with degradation of 83% of pyrene (0.1% w/v) and 69% of naphthalene (0.1% w/v). With the specific growth rate of 1.25 h⁻¹ and doubling time of 33.5 min, TERI MS1 showed potential for its use in implementing a bioaugmentation strategy for restoring oil spills in marine environment.

Keywords:

• Biodegradation
• Candida vishwanathii
• Petroleum crude oil
• Polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs)
• Seawater

Acknowledgment

Authors are thankful to Dr R.K. Pachauri, DG TERI for providing the infrastructural facilities to execute the present study. Thanks are also due to Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Government of Australia for jointly funding the study under the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF-BF020032). We are also thankful to Mr Rambaran and Mr Abu Swaleh for their technical assistance.