Eighteen species and 10 genera of fungi were isolated from 9 samples of soil highly contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons (benzene, kerosene and solar) on Czapek agar medium. The most common fungal species were Aspergillus niger, A. ochreaceous A. fumigatus, Alternaria humicola, and Sepedonium sp., whereas, Bacillus and Pseudomonas were most common bacterial species. Eight fungal species were able to grow on Czapek agar medium containing either benzene, kerosene or solar as a sole carbon source. Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, A. sydowii, Trichoderma harzianum and Aspergillus sp. showed an ability to degrade benzene, while, Alternaria humicola, A. ochraceous and A. sydowii utilized kerosene, whereas, Aspergillus fumigatus and A. ochraceous grew on solar, but Trichoderma harzianum showed high ability to consume solar as a sole carbon source. Nucleotide sequence analysis of a DNA fragment belongs to local fungal isolate showed a 99% homology with A. niger isolate deposited in the GenBank. Furthermore, the partial nucleotide sequence of local Aspergillus niger isolate deposited in the GenBank under accession number HQ667329.
Key words: benzene, kerosene, solar, hydrocarbons, Aspergillus niger, 18S rRNA, PCR amplification
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