This study involved the isolation of bacteria endophytes with PAH-degrading ability from plants growing around a sludge dam. A total of 19 distinct isolates that were morphologically identified were isolated from 4 species of plant with a follow-up confirmatory identification using the molecular technique. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the 16S rRNA gene with specific primers (16S-27F PCR and 16S-1491R PCR) was carried out. The sequence of the PCR products was carried out, compared with similar nucleotides available in GenBank. Results of the phylogenetic analysis of the isolates indicated their belonging to 4 different clades including Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Firmicutes. These were related to the genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Terribacillus, Virgibacillus, Stenotrophomonas, Paenibacillus, Brevibacterium, Geobacillus, Acinetobacter. From the result, Pseudomonas demonstrated a high incidence in the plants sampled. The in-vitro degradation study and the presence of dioxygenase genes indicated that these lists of endophytes are able to use the list of PAHs tested as their source of food and energy leading to their breakdown. This means that the bacterial endophytes contributed to the remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in planta, a situation that may have been phytotoxic to plant alone. Therefore, these bacteria endophytes could be potential organisms for enhanced phytoremediation of PAHs.
Keywords: Bacteria; PAH; biodegradation; endophytes; oil sludge; phytoremediation; plants.