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Lipase
activities of microbial isolates from soil contaminated with
crude oil after bioremediation
K. Chuks
Ugochukwu1*, N. C. Agha1 and J. N.
Ogbulie2
1Department
of Biochemistry Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo
State.
2Department
of Microbiology Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo
State.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
chukskizzy02@yahoo.com.
Accepted 4 July 2008 |
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This study involving assessment of the enzyme lipase
as indicator of microbial degradation of crude oil was
carried out using indigenous and exogenous soil
microorganism. Standard microbiological, physiological and
biochemical methods were adopted. Result obtained revealed
Edwardsiella tarda,
Bacterium aliphaticum,
Bacillus megaterium,
Bacillus cereus,
Pseudomonas maltiphilia, Fusarium
vertiaculloide, Botryodiphodia thiobroma,
Fusiarum oxysporum, Cryptococcus neofomas,
Aspergillus niger and Candida tropicalis
as organisms indigenous to soil that have the potential to
degrade crude oil. While biochemical analysis revealed that
except B. aliphaticum which had lipase activity of
3.99 µ/ml, fungal isolates generally recorded higher lipase
activities than bacterial isolates. A. niger showed
the highest lipase activity of 4.00 µ/ml while P.
maltophilia gave the least activity of 0.45 µ/ml after 6
weeks of remediation. The findings have possible industrial
and environmental implications especially towards developing
a bioremediation protocol at the enzymatic level.
Key words:
Bioremediation, crude oil, enzymes. |
