Enrichment and characterization of Diesel hydrocarbons degrading bacteria from the microbial source Enzyveba

The stable consortium of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and fungi Enzyveba produced by Marcopolo Engineering S.p.A. (Italy) was recently found to significantly intensify the biological remediation of Diesel, PCB and PAH -contaminated soils (1), thus representing a promising inoculum for the bioremediation of polluted soils lacking indigenous active specialized biomass. In this work, Enzyveba’s bacteria able to degrade Diesel hydrocarbons were enriched through five cycles of enrichment cultures in liquid mineral medium with Diesel or Blue Diesel (1000 ppm) as the sole source of carbon and energy. The enriched cultures displayed a similar degradation pathways and potential towards Diesel and Blue Diesel hydrocarbons, which were removed by 62% and 70% after three days of incubation under shaken flask batch aerobic conditions. Accordingly, a remarkable biomass growth (from 106 to 109 CFU/ml) was detected during the incubation. From each culture seven isolates were obtained which are currently under biochemical and molecular characterization. (1) Di Toro S., Zanaroli G., Fava F. Microbial Cell Factories. 2006; 5:11.