Introduction:

The impact of polluting substances, especially those of fossil fuels, on the environment is an important issue in the world. The ability of microorganisms to degrade these pollutants has been recently studied and characterized.

Objective:

To analyze the ability of groups of microorganisms, obtained from a cloud forest ecosystem in Mexico, to degrade aromatic compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and anthracene).

Materials and methods:

Microbiome samples were collected in the Sierra Madre del Sur in the state of Oaxaca. The microorganisms were isolated and identified by molecular techniques. Subsequently, the ability of the microorganisms to degrade aromatic hydrocarbons in a packed-bed bioreactor was quantitatively evaluated by HPLC-PDA chromatography.

Results and discussion:

Fifty groups of microorganisms were collected, cultured and genetically characterized. In genetic diversity, Lactobacillus, Prevotella and genera of the family Acetobacteraceae predominated. In the hydrocarbon biodegradation process, the pollutant concentration decreased 97 % and 91 % mineralization was achieved in less than 25 h.

Conclusions:

The microorganisms showed significant degrading activity of the aromatic compounds. Biodiversity in the cloud forest in the Loxicha region is key to ensuring ecosystem services, so it is important to undertake explorations to evaluate the use of these bacterial microbiomes.