“…The microbial degradation of monoaromatic hydrocarbons such as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) has been extensively reported (Bacosa et al, 2011). AHs seriously threaten our environment by damaging ecosystems and affecting human health when they are accidentally released during exploration, drilling, extraction, storage, refining, and transportation (Houbron et al, 2021;Tao et al, 2020;Vázquez-Vélez et al, 2022).…”