Characterization of a biodegrading bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, isolated from oil-contaminated soil

Crude oil and its derivatives because of different events and accidents may cause pollution to the environment. A biological treatment is a novel technique that uses microorganisms to remove or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site. Oil-contaminated soils were sampled, after isolating of soil bacteria, using quantitative and qualitative screening, biosurfactant-producing bacteria were identified and environmental factors on the growth of bacteria and biosurfactant were investigated. In this study, the Bacillus subtilis was identified as the best biosurfactant-producing strain which has the ability to grow in environments with high salinity and temperature and pH > 5. The produced biosurfactant from B. subtilis is stable to changes in temperature and salt concentration and pH (in the range of 5–12).The B. subtilis also showed that they are able to biodegrade aliphatic alkanes. The B. subtilis has necessary potential for bioremediation of oil pollution in the environment.