Biotechnology1682-296x1682-2978Asian Network for Scientific Information10.3923/biotech.2007.349.352ThavasiR. JayalakshmiS. RadhakrishnanR. BalasubramanianT. 3200763The present investigation is on evaluation of biodegradation potential of four species of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria, B. megaterium, C. kutscheri, L. delbrueckii and P. aeruginosa and screening for plasmids. For biodegradation study, the strains were cultured in mineral salt medium with 0.1% of crude oil for seven days. Biodegradation results inferred that, P. aeruginosa showed 85.15% of crude oil degradation, followed by B. megaterium (78.5%), C. kutscheri (76.4%) and L. delbrueckii (71.6%). Strains were grown for 24 h in Luria-Bertani broth for plasmid study. Plasmid study revealed that, P. aeruginosa harbored two plasmids with molecular weight of 4.2 and 3.8 kb. The other strains namely L. delbrueckii, C. kutscheri and B. megaterium were found to have single plasmid with respective molecular weight of 3.8, 4.2 and 4.1 kb. Complete loss of biodegradation potential was observed when the plasmids of these strains cured with acridine orange.]]>Anthony, G.H., S. Ripp and G.S. Sayler,20002000pp: 730-744pp: 730-744Atlas, R.M.,198153338Baruah, A. and M. Deka,199535305309Bhosle, N.B. and S. Mavinkurve,198045358Buchanan, R.E., N.E. Gibbons, S.T. Cowan, T.G. Holt and J. Liston et al.,1974pp: 1246pp: 1246Burton, N.F., J.D. Marin and A.T. Bull,19824410261029Chakrabarty, A.M.M.,1976Pseudomonas.]]>10730Colwell, R.R., J.D. Walker and J.D. Nelson,19731973pp: 185-197pp: 185-197Day, M.J., N.F. Burton and A.T. Bull,198877173Devereux, R. and R.K. Sizemore,198213198202Fujji, T., M. Takeo and Y. Maeda,1997Acinetobacter sp.]]>1439399Hada, H.S. and R.K. Sizemore,1981vibrio sp. isolated from an oil field in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.]]>41199202Juwarkar, A. and D.G. Khirsagar,1991207879Leahy, J.G., C.C. Somerville, K.A. Cunningham, G.A. Adamantiades, J.J. Byrd and R.R. Colwell,19905615651570Ogunseitan, O.A., E.T. Tedford, D. Pacia, K.M. Sirotkin and G.S. Sayler,19871311317Park, W., C.O. Jeon, A.M. Hohnstock-Ashe, S.C. Winans, G.J. Zylstra and E.L. Madsen,2003Pseudomonas putida Cg1.]]>6932633271Rheinwald, J.G., A.M. Chakrabarty and I.C. Gunsalus,1973Pseudomonas putida.]]>70885889Sambrook, J. and D.W. Russell,20013rd Edn.,Pages: 2344Pages: 2344Schutt, C.,1989174962Sorkhoh, N.A., M.A. Ghannoum, A.S. Ibrahim, R.J. Stretton and S.S. Radwan,1990Rhodococcus rhodochrous isolated from soil and marine environments in Kuwait.]]>65117Stuart-Keil, K.G., A.M. Hohnstock, K.P. Drees, J.B. Herrick and E.L. Madsen,1998Pseudomonas putida NCIB 9816-4.]]>6436333640Rahman, K.S.M., I.M. Banat, J. Thahira, T. Thayumanavan and P. Lakshmanaperumalsamy,2002812532