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During crude oil extraction, the reduction in temperature and pressure results in the precipitation of paraffin wax, which may accumulate inside production tubes, pipelines, and also in tankers during petroleum transportation. Few bacterial strains are able to degrade this type of solid substrates. In a paper, published in Biotechnology Journal, Carlos Rodrigues and Carla CCR de Carvalho (BERG-iBB) evaluate the biodegradation of paraffin by Rhodococcus erythropolis cells. The cells could grow as a thick biofilm over the solid substrate and rapidly degrade paraffin when it was supplied in the form of microparticles. The phenotypic adaptations allowing the cells to degrade the 20-40 chain hydrocarbons are discussed in the paper.
