Bacterial Biodegradation of Petroleum and Oil Compounds

Abstract

Petroleum compounds can be degraded by several bacterial species. Thus, these microorganisms are of great interest to the industry and to the recovery of contaminated environments. Methods to isolate, cultivate and identify bacteria able to degrade these pollutants have been developed in the field of chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and molecular biology, allowing for a better understanding of bacterial communities ecology and dynamics in the environmental context and in the laboratory. Finally, there is a growing need for multidisciplinary research in order to meet the greatest possible number of species, their metabolic properties and their respective roles in the degradation process of oil compounds and, with this information, develop strategies for decontamination of environments polluted with these substances.