Biocatalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil using mixed cultures from oilfields. synthetic metagenome

Several mixed cultures were isolated from oilfield samples based on their capabilities to grow on heavy crude oil as the sole carbon source in minimal medium. The enriched consortia were then used in batch cultures for upgrading of heavy crude oil in minimal medium. After time intervals, culture samples were retrieved to analyze the physicochemical properties of the biotreated oil. Moreover, total DNA was isolated from the culture biomass to analyze temporal shifts in the bacterial community structure using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing with Illumina MiSeq.