Dataset for: Direct visualization of oil degradation and biofilm formation for the screening of crude oil-degrading bacteria

In this experiment, optical microscopy was used to detect and screen oil-degrading bacteria via a novel technique. In the bottom surface of Petri dish prefilled with mineral salt medium, a 100µm crude-oil droplet was injected and attached. Microbes were pipetted into the Petri dish and the interactions between the bacteria and the oil drops were observed. The size of the oil drop decreased, and the perfectly spherical shaped oil drop became irregular as bacterial degradation of oil droplets proceeded. However, bacteria that cannot degrade oil did not change the size or shape of the oil drop. This dataset supports the publication: Zheng, M., Wang, W., & Papadopoulos, K. (2019). Direct visualization of oil degradation and biofilm formation for the screening of crude oil-degrading bacteria. Bioremediation Journal, 1–11. doi:10.1080/10889868.2019.1671795