Research Articles Biological Sciences

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Browsing Research Articles Biological Sciences by Subject "Acinetobacter"

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    Biodegradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons Under Tropical Estuarine Conditions
    (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990-09) Amund, Olukayode O.; Igiri, C. O.
    The physic-chemical parameters of water samples collected from three points in the Lagos lagoon were studied for 12 months. Salinity varied seasonally but the temperature, pH, dissolved O2, conductivity, NO3 and HPO42- concentrations were relatively constant. There was a direct proportionality between the population density of hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria and the oil content of water samples. Twelve hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria were isolated by selective enrichment and characterized as species of Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Acinetobacter and Bacillus. The organisms grew mainly on long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons. Laboratory and field biodegradation studies showed both quantitative and qualitative changes in the hydrocarbon content of crude oil due to microbial degradative activities and a faster rate of oil depletion from the Lagos lagoon during the rainy season. The results obtained could offer a predictive model for estimating the rate of disappearance of petroleum hydrocarbons from the tropical estuarine environment.
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    Utilisation of alicyclic compounds by soil bacteria
    (2006) Amund, Olukayode O.; Ilori, Matthew O.; Adebusoye, Sunday A.; Musa, K. I.
    Alicyclic compounds are recalcitrant hydrocarbons, they are a major component of crude oil and their fraction in the oil may be as high as 37%. They are used as industrial chemicals and are obtained via extraction from petroleum or by synthesis. A number of alicyclic compounds are, in addition to the petrogenic source, continually synthesized biologically as constituents of plants and microorganisms. Despite the wide occurrence of these compounds in nature, very little works had been carried out on their utilization by microorganisms. Species of Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Arthrobacter and Nocardia able to utilize cyclohexanone as sole carbon source were isolated from soil by enrichment technique. The isolates also grew on cyclohexanol, succinic and acetic acids as sole carbon sources. DNA profiles of the organisms did not reveal the presence of any plasmid. Growth in acriflavin-supplemented broth did not result in loss of ability to utilize the compounds. The genetic control of alicyclic metabolism in these organisms appeared to be chromosomal in nature. [Nature and Science. 2006;4(3):65-68].
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    Utilization and degradation of an ester-based synthetic lubricant by Acinetobacter lwoffi
    (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996-04-01) Amund, Olukayode O.
    An oil-degrading bacterium, Acinetobacter lwoffi, isolated by elective culture from the Medway estuary, utilized an ester-based synthetic lubricating oil EMKARATE DE 155 as sole carbon and energy source. Analysis of culture supernatants by gas chromatography showed the accumulation of a nondegradable metabolite 1,1,1 Tris (hydroxymethyl) propane in addition to two metabolizable fatty acids, octanoic and decanoic acids as products of the synthetic oil degradation. Esterase activities were subsequently demonstrated in oil and acetate-grown cells. The synthetic oil therefore appears to be partially biodegradable in the environment.