Biosurfactant production by hydrocarbon-degradingBrevibacteriumandVibrioisolates from the sea penPteroeides spinosum(Ellis, 1764)
Among filter-feeders, pennatulids are the most complex and polymorphic members of the cnidarian class Anthozoa. They display a wide distribution throughout all the oceans, constituting a significant component of the sessile megafauna from intertidal to abyssal depths. In this study, a total of 118 bacterial isolates from enrichment cultures, carried out with homogenates of the sea pen Pteroeides spinosum (Ellis, 1764), were screened for hydrocarbon utilization by using the 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol assay. Among them, 83 hydrocarbon-oxidizing isolates were analyzed for biosurfactant production by standard screening tests (i.e., emulsifying activity, E24 detection, surface tension measure…