Abstract
Hydrocarbon utilizing bacteria in water, soil and sediment samples collected from crude oil-impacted sites at Bodo community, Ogoniland in the Niger Delta were
isolated using Bushnell-Haas agar. Bacterial genera tentatively characterized were
Bacillus, Corynebacterium, Enterobacter, Flavobacterium, Klebsiella, Micrococcus,
Proteus, Pseudomonas and Serratia. A portion of the 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid
(16S rRNA) gene of the genomic DNA extracted from each bacterial isolate was
amplified with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the universal primer set 27F:
GAGTTTGATCCTGGCTCAG and 1492R: GGTTACCTTGTTACGACT. The PCR products
(ca.1500bp) were cleaned up and sequenced with the ABI Big Dye version 3.1 kit on
ABI 3730XL genetic analyzer. Electropherograms were inspected with Chromas Lite
2.01 while sequence identification was performed using GenBank’s BLAST algorithm.
Sequence analysis revealed the presence of distinct known hydrocarbon degrading
bacteria like Acinetobacter radioresistens strain Philippines-11, Alcaligenes sp. PAH-
43, Bacillus sp. UR2, Bacillus subtilis strain B7, Bacterium NLAE-zl-H221, Bacterium
NLAE-zl-H156, Bacterium NLAE-zl-H231, Bacterium NLAE-zl-H84, Cedecea davisae
isolate PSB5, Pantoea agglomerans strain T224 (formerly Enterobacter agglomerans),
Proteus mirabilis strain SNB5, Proteus mirabilis strain NBRC 13300, Proteus mirabilis
strain ALK418, Proteus penneri strain YCY34, Proteus mirabilis strain TL14C1, Proteus
mirabilis strain 73, Proteus mirabilis strain SZH18, Proteus mirabilis strain CIFR1,
Proteus hauseri strain ZMd44, Proteus vulgaris strain Knp3, Proteus mirabilis strain
D27, Pseudomonas sp. G4 (2013) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain XM1. It is highly
recommended that16S rRNA-gene-based techniques be used when studying the
bacterial community diversity and dynamics in oil-polluted ecosystems in order to fully
describe the active microorganisms involved in hydrocarbon degradation.