assessment of crude oil degradation by and isolated from the coast of Ghana.

This study was aimed at using microcosm experiments to assess crude oil degradation efficiency of and isolated along Ghana's coast. Uncontaminated seawater from selected locations along the coast was used to isolate bacterial species by employing enrichment culture procedures with crude oil as the only carbon source. The isolates were identified by means of the extended direct colony transfer method of the Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF MS), as , and . Remediation tests showed that yielded degradation efficiencies of 27.59 %, 41.38 % and 57.47 %. Whereas efficiencies of 21.14 %, 32.18 % and 43.68 % were recorded by representing 15, 30 and 45 days respectively. Consortia of , and also yielded 32.18 %, 48.28 % and 62.07 % for the selected days respectively. Phylogenetic characterization using ClustalW and BLAST of sequences generated from the Oxford Nanopore Sequencing technique, showed that the Ghanaian isolates clustered with and species respectively. An analysis of the sequenced data for the 1394-bp portion of the 16S rRNA gene of the isolates revealed >99 % sequence identity with the isolates present on the GenBank database. The isolates of closest identity were and with accession numbers, NR_133958.1 and KJ147060.1 respectively. and isolated from Ghana's coast under pristine seawater conditions have therefore demonstrated their capacity to be used for the remediation of crude oil spills.