Fusion of two yeast strains for enhanced crude oil degradation

Abstract

A hybrid strain S₂₄ was developed from Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y5A and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis Y_7B, using protoplast fusion technique. The yeast protoplasts were prepared using gut juice from Helix pomatia (Land Snail) as cell digesting enzyme. The ability of the wild and the hybrid strains to degrade medium and light crude oil was determined gravimetrically. The parental strains Y_5A and Y_7A caused 56.9 and 52.6% weight loss respectively of light crude, while the hybrid caused 72.4% weight loss which was 19.3% and 16.6% higher than Y_5A and Y_7B respectively. Strains Y_5A and Y_7B also caused 46.7 and 4.1% weight loss respectively of medium crude while S₂₄ caused 63.3% weight loss, which was 19.2 and 15.3% higher than the Y_5A and Y_7B. The results indicate that hybrid strains are potential candidates for crude oil pollution abatement programmes in oil spilled sites.


KEY WORDS: Protoplast fusion, Saccharomyces, hybrid strains, Snail juice, Biodegradation.


Global Jnl Pure and Applied Sciences Vol.10(4) 2004: 491-496