Biodegradation of hydrocarbons by an extremely halophilic archaebacterium

Abstract

An archaebacterium (strain EH4) able to biodegrade saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons has been isolated from a sail-marsh. Maximum growth on eicosane (62% of biodegradation, 10 h generation time) was reached in a medium prepared with a natural hypersaline water collected from a salt-marsh (3.5 mol/1 NaCl concentration). No growth on hydrocarbons was observed for NaCl concentration lower than 1.8 mol/1.