Hydrocarbon degradation abilities of psychrotolerant strains.

Biodegradation requires identification of hydrocarbon degrading microbes and the investigation of psychrotolerant hydrocarbon degrading microbes is essential for successful biodegradation in cold seawater. In the present study, a total of 597 isolates were screened to select psychrotolerant strains and 134 isolates were established as psychrotolerant on the basis of their ability to grow at 7 °C. Hydrocarbon degradation capacities of these 134 psychrotolerant isolate were initially investigated on agar medium containing different hydrocarbons (naphthalene, n-hexadecane, mineral oil) and 47 positive isolates were grown in broth medium containing hydrocarbons at 20 °C under static culture.