Revista de biorremediación y biodegradación

Abstracto

Biodegradation of Crude Oil by Fungi Isolated from Gulf of Mexico

Hussein Al-Nasrawi

In the present study, sand samples contaminated with oil spill were collected from Pensacola beach (Gulf of Mexico) and tested to isolates fungal diversity associated with beach sands and investigates the ability of isolated fungi for crude oil biodegradation. From sixteen fungal strains, four strains were confirmed for biodegradation ability of crude oil, the isolated fungi belongs to Aspergillus niger with higher activity followed by Penicillium documbens , Cochliobolus lutanus and Fusarium solani . Aspergillus niger recorded the highest weight loss of 8.6%, Penicillium documbens (7.9 %) and Cochliobolus lutanus (4.7%) whereas the lowest weight loss was demonstrated by Fusarium solani strain 421502 (1.9%)