Water and soil sample were collected from an uncontaminated Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan (India) were used for isolation and characterization of halophilic bacteria able to degrade 2T engine oil a hydrocarbon mixture. Enrichment technique was used to isolate bacterial strain ZHE 05 in presence of 50 gl-1 NaCl and 1% 2T engine oil at 37°C. ZHE05 strain was rod shaped gram negative, motile, positive for oxidase and catalase. Phenotypic characters and phylogenetic analysis based on 16s rRNA gene of isolate ZHE05 showed that it was related to member of halomonas genus. The initially hydrocarbon degrading activity of strain ZHE05 was observed by CO2 evolution experiment. The degradation of several compounds present in 2T engine oil was confirmed by GCMS analysis. The significantly amount of heterogenic compound was degraded which is present in refined petroleum product such as 2T racer oil and diesel oil under the same condition of salinity and temperature. Degradation activity of strain ZHE05 was observed on pure aliphatic compound hexadecane which show significant degradation of aliphatic compound.
