Protein from petroleum

The first published report that hydrocarbons were subject to microbial degradation appears to be that of the Japanese botanist Miyoshi in 1895. He observed that certain alkanes were attacked by the fungus Botrytis Cinerea. The first reports of microbial oxidation of methane, the simplest alkane, were made about 10 years later by Kaserer (1905), and Sohngen (1905). According to the recent review of Quayle (1967), the ability to utilise hydrocarbons is widespread amongst micro‐organisms. The ability to grow on methane appears to be a more restricted property although Whittenbury, Phillips and Wilkinson (1970) have recently isolated more than 100 strains of methane utilising bacteria.