Identification of Fusarium Species Isolated from Crude Oil Contaminated Soils in Oil Refinery in Kermanshah Province

Members of Fusarium species are common Fungi that can metabolize of petroleum hydrocarbons in entire the world. These fungi are resistant in oil contaminated sites.Therefore, the objectives in this study were to isolate and identify of Fusarium spp. from oil-contaminated soils in oil refinery in Kermanshah province based on the morphological and molecular characteristics. Crude oil contaminated soil samples were collected from crude oil contaminated soils in oil refinery in Kermanshah province. Fusarium spp. was isolated using peptone pentachloronitrobenzene agar (PPA) plates supplemented with streptomycin and neomycin. In this research 30 Fusarium strains were isolated. Based on morphological characters, all isolates belonged to F. falciforme, F. keratoplasticum, and F. petroliphilum which belonged to Fusarium solani species complex. Based on the sequence data from ITS rDNA analysis, Fusarium isolates were divided into three major groups. Although the data obtained from morphological and molecular studies sufficiently supported each other, the resulting phylogenetic trees based on ITS rDNA dataset clearly distinguished closely related species and distinctly separated all morphological taxa. All the Fusarium spp. related from oil-contaminated soils was reported for the first time in Iran. Existing of fungi particularly Fusarium species in crude oil soils shows the probability of degradation and consumption of oil contaminated by these fungi.