UPTAKE AND UTILIZATION OF N-OCTACOSANE AND N-NONACOSANE BY ARTHROBACTER-NICOTIANAE KCC-B35

Arthrobacter nicotianae KCC B35 isolated from blue-green mars densely covering oil sediments along the Arabian Gulf coast grew well on C-10 to C-40 n-alkanes as sole sources of carbon and energy, Growth on C-20 to C-40 alkanes was even better than on C-10 to C-18 alkanes, Biomass samples incubated for 6 h with n-octacosane (C-28) or n-nonacosane (C -29) accumulated these compounds as the predominant constituent alkane s of the cell hydrocarbon fractions. The even chain hexadecane C-16 an d the odd chain pentadecane C-15 were the second dominant constituent alkanes in C-28 and C-29 incubated cells, respectively, n-Hexadecane-i ncubated cells accumulated in their lipids higher proportions of C-16- fatty acids than control cells not incubated with hydrocarbons, On the other hand, C-28 and C-29-incubated cells did not contain any fatty a cids with the equivalent chain lengths, but the fatty acid patterns of the cell lipids suggest that there should have been mid-chain oxidati on of these very long chain alkanes, This activity qualifies A. nicoti anae KCC B35 to be used in cocktails for bioremediating environments p olluted with heavy oil sediments.