Mangrove sediments were collected from major mangrove stands on the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia. Forty five isolates belonging to 12 genera were purified and five isolates as well as their consortium were found to be able to grow in association with petroleum oil as sole carbon source under in vitro conditions. The isolated strains were identified based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA sequence analysis. The fungal strains with the greatest potentiality to degrade diesel oil, without developing antagonistic activity, were identified as Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus terreus, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Eupenicillium hirayamae and Paecilomyces variotii. As compared to the controls, these fungi accumulated significantly higher biomass, produced extracellular enzymes and liberated larger volumes of CO2. These observations with GC-MS data confirm that these isolates displayed rapid diesel oil bioremoval and when used together as a consortium, there was no antagonistic activity.
Keywords: Biodegradation; Diesel fuel; ITS; Mangrove sediments; Saudi Arabia.