ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the biocatalytic processes involved during oil biodegradation. The use of fossil fuels for energy and raw materials during the last century has been the origin of some widespread environmental pollution. Among these pollutants are the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are considered to be a potential health risk because of their possible carcinogenic and mutagenic activities. Enormous research work has been carried out on the mechanisms of hydrocarbon degradation by microbial cells. The degradation of the primary alcohol is carried out by the alcohol–aldehyde dehydrogenase pathway to obtain the corresponding fatty acid. These enzymes usually have a bound NAD, and are induced by the presence of hydrocarbons. Plasmids in bacteria are certainly a common fact in nature. Plasmids are a huge reserve of genetic information, which is placed in plasmatic vehicles that flow among the microorganisms in nature.
