Restinga Paralela = Parallel Restinga

eight in negotiation with international oil companies. It invests
in safety and competitiveness in the pre-salt by transhipping oil
in protected waters, which increases safety and reduces export
freight (66).

However, any movement of oil and derivatives inevita-
bly creates a risky situation, involving the possibility of caus-
ing pollution (67). During the production and transport of oil and
by-products, improper operations or leakage results in soil con-
tamination. These contaminations can have significant envi-
ronmental impacts and pose risks to human health (68). Several
related accidents have been reported in recent years, and one of
the most noteworthy due to the scale of its effects was that of
the P-36 platform at Campos Basin in 2001 (69).

The need to remedy polluted areas has led to the devel-
opment of new technologies for the detoxification of contami-
nants and there are several methods for recalcitrant substanc-
es removal from the environment. The options range from the
construction of physical barriers, washing or ventilation of con-
taminated soil, to the use of biological techniques. The latter,
bioremediation, consists in the use of processes triggered by
living organisms which have the capacity to modify or decom-
pose certain pollutants into inert substances (70).

Some types of treatment to biodegrade the pollutants
are:

• “in situ” (in its place of origin), where there is no need
  and/or possibility of removal of the material;


• “ad situ” (outside the place of origin), when the waste is
  taken to a location near the impacted area;


• “ex situ” (outside the place of origin) when the waste is
  transported to a suitable remediation site (71).

There are several microorganisms responsible for reduc-
ing environmental contamination, including bacteria, fungi and
yeasts. Although many of these have the same nutritional need
as ours, others metabolize substances such as heavy metals,
oil, sulfur, nitrogen gas and mercury, among others (65).

There is a particular interest in finding a microorganism
with high degrading potential that is native to the contaminat-
ed site because it is more adaptable to the environment, more
resistant to local environmental variations, and less susceptible
to genetic variations caused by stress (72). On the other hand, it
should be taken into account that the environmental factors, the
pollutants bioavailability and the intrinsic structural properties
of the polluting substance determine the degree of degradation
rate (73).

The bioprospecting of microorganisms is one of the main

focuses today and has helped positively in programs related to

the management of contaminated areas, which facilitates the

selection of competent microorganisms in pollutants degrada-

tion (74).

The microbial consortium composed of bacteria and

fungi is the best representation to be used in a true contami-

nated environment (75), since the fungi survive and grow in me-

dia with high concentrations of recalcitrant compounds and

are able to use them as energy source(76), bacteria, in turn, have

characteristics that allow their adaptation to various environ-

mental conditions and present rapid growth, metabolic versatil-

ity and genetic plasticity (77). Thus, when together they present

greater assimilation of complex mixtures of hydrocarbons, such

as those present in oil and derivatives, by the amplification of

specific enzymatic mechanisms necessary for the degradation

of these compounds, as well as by the metabolic complemen-

tarity, since the cometabolite transformed by a certain species

can result in one substance useful to the other (78).

In the literature the most common genera of bacteria

studied in bioremediation are Achromobacter, Acinetobacter,

Arthrobacter, Alcaligenes, Bacillus, Brevibacterium, Chromobac-

terium, Corynebacterium, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, Micro-

bacterium, Mycobacterium, Nocardia, Pseudomonas, Rhodo-

coccus, Serratia, Streptomyces, Staphylococcus and Vibrio (79).

The most common genera of fungi are Acremonium, Aspergillus,

Candida, Chrysosporium, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Geotrichum,

Mortierella, Penicillium, Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, Tricho-

derma, Trichosporon, Mucor, Rhizopus and Phanerochaete (74 ;

80; 81).

The importance of fungi for bioremediation in contami-

nated environments has been highlighted by the ability of these

organisms to produce peroxidases and phenoloxidases. These

enzymes have been evaluated for the enzymatic treatment of

different types of contaminants (82). Enzymatic treatments have

advantages over conventional processes such as selectivity

and efficiency, even at low concentrations.

In natural environments, most of the organic matter is

mineralized aerobically, but this process can also occur in the

absence of oxygen involving biochemically versatile and unique

microorganisms (83). However, the microbial oil degradation and

its refined products are much faster under aerobic conditions

than under anaerobic conditions (84).

Considering the high diversity of endophytic fungi from

restinga collected in our work, it is believed that bioremediation,

which has already proved its effectiveness in other countries,

can be a target for a prosperous study that deserves attention

and investment.