Isolation and characterization of crude-oil-dependent bacteria from the coast of Ghana using oxford nanopore sequencing

Mark Kwasi Sarfo; Samuel Fosu Gyasi; Amos Tiereyangn Kabo-Bah; Bright Adu; Quaneeta Mohktar; Andrew Sarkodie Appiah; Yaw Serfor-Armah

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13075

Isolation and characterization of crude-oil-dependent bacteria from the coast of Ghana using oxford nanopore sequencing

Heliyon. 2023 Jan 25;9(2):e13075. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13075. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Authors

Mark Kwasi Sarfo¹, Samuel Fosu Gyasi^{2

3}, Amos Tiereyangn Kabo-Bah¹, Bright Adu⁴, Quaneeta Mohktar⁴, Andrew Sarkodie Appiah⁵, Yaw Serfor-Armah⁶

Affiliations

¹ Regional Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana.
² Department of Biological Science, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana.
³ Centre for Research in Applied Biology, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana.
⁴ Department of Immunology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University Of Ghana, Ghana.
⁵ Biotechnology Center, Biotechnology and Nuclear Agricultural Research Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Ghana.
⁶ School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.

Abstract

The utilization and improper use of crude oil can have irreparable damage on the environment and human populations. This study sought to isolate hydrocarbon utilizing bacteria from 1% v/v pristine seawater and 1% v/v crude oil using enrichment culture techniques. Whole genome sequencing of DNA using the Oxford Nanopore sequencing technique with Fastq WIMP as the workflow at 3% abundance was undertaken. The results showed that the most abundant isolates identified using this technique at specific sampling sites were, Acinetobacter junii (51.9%), Alcanivarax pacificus (15.8%), Acinetobacter haemolyticus (21.6%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23.4%), Alcanivorax xenomutans (24.7%), Alcanivorax xenomutans (23.0%) Acinetobacter baumannii (40.0%) and Acinetobacter junii (14.2%). Cumulatively, the most abundant isolates in the 8 sampling sites were Acinetobacter junii (17.91%), Alcanivorax xenomutans (11.68%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7.68%), Escherichia coli (7.67%), Acinetobacter haemolyticus (3.40%), and Alkanivorax pacificus (3.10%). Spearman's rank correlation analysis to examine the strength of relationship between the physicochemical parameters and type of bacteria isolated, revealed that salinity (0.8046) and pH (0.7252) were the highest. Isolated bacteria from pristine seawater, especially Escherichia coli have shown their capacity for bioremediating oil spill pollution in oceanic environments in Ghana.

Keywords: Bacteria; Coast of Ghana; Hydrocarbon; Jubilee oil; Sequencing.