The use of biodegradation as a method for cleaning up soil that has been
contaminated by spilt petroleum can be an effective strategy. So, this study
investigated the existence of the wild microorganism in soil contaminated with
oil and study their ability to degrade petroleum in vitro. Nineteen samples
were collected from various locations near Taq Taq (TTOPCO) natural seeps in
the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Morphological, cultural, biochemical tests and
molecular identification were used to identify the microbial communities, in
addition, spore texture and the colour of the fungal isolates were investigated
on the fungal isolates. Out of the19 samples, 17 indigenous bacterial strains
and 5 fungal strains were successfully isolated. From the absorption
spectrophotometry, Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus cereus, Achromobacter sp. and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa for the bacterial isolates grew well on a minimal salt
medium supplemented with 1% crude oil. Results showed that these isolates
mentioned above had a strong ability to degrade crude oil by reducing the
colour of 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol (DCPIP) from deep blue to colourless.
However, for the fractions of hydrocarbon, the bacterial isolates failed and
did not affect the colour of any of the fractions. The results for fungi showed
that Aspergillus lentulus and Rhizopus arrhizus had a strong ability to degrade
both crude oil and fraction F1 by reducing the colour of DCPIP. Each fungal
isolates also had a great tolerance to different concentrations of crude oil
when grown on solid MSM. This study showed these microorganisms have a strong
ability to degrade crude oil and can be used to clean up soil and the
environment