Response of microbial enzymes syntheses to toxicity of weathered and biodegraded crude oils

Abstract

The toxicity of eight weathered and biodegraded Nigerian crude oils to the biosyntheses of four bacterial enzymes were examined. The constitutive intracellular enzyme, nitritase was the most sensitive to all toxicants. Two extracellular inducibe enzymes tryptophanase and α-glucosidase were less, sensitive to the toxicants. These extracellular enzymes, however, were more sensitive than the intracellular inducible enzyme β-galactosidase. Inhibition of bacterial enzymes syntheses could be a useful, cheap, simple rapid ecotoxicity assay for monitoring oil pollution in the Nigerian environment.

Keywords: Sensitivity, Response, Microbial Enzymes, Toxicity, Weathered crude oil, biodegraded crude oil.


(Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences: 2003 9(2): 183-192)