whereas one strain (i.e. GM42) grew best on phenanthrene and pentane. All
strains showed ability to metabolize a range of cyanobacterial photosynthetic and fermentative exudates.
In coculture experiments, the addition of the Pseudomonas-related GM41 strain to the cyanobacterium
Synechocystis PCC6803, found in the same mat, resulted in 8-fold increase in the cyanobacterial biomass.
This growth was more pronounced when hexadecane was added to the culture medium. The addition of
representative substrates of cyanobacterial exudates to the phenanthrene-degrading strain GM42 resulted
in variable effects. While acetate, pyruvate and glucose enhanced phenanthrene degradation, alanine and
butanol showed no effect. We conclude that aerobic heterotrophic bacteriaecyanobacteria consortia can
be very useful for bioremediating oil-polluted sites, circumventing the costly use of organic and inorganic fertilizer