TY - JOUR A1 - Martin-Sanchez, Pedro Maria A1 - Gorbushina, Anna A1 - Toepel, Jörg T1 - Quantification of microbial load in diesel storage tanks using culture- and qPCR-based approaches T2 - International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation N2 - Microbial contamination of fuels, associated with a wide variety of bacteria and fungi, leads to decreased product quality and can compromise equipment performance by biofouling and microbiologically influenced corrosion of pipelines and storage tanks. Detection and quantification of biomass are critical in monitoring fuel systems for an early detection of microbial outbreaks. The aims of this study are (i) to quantify bacterial and fungal contamination in samples from diesel storage tanks of petrol stations, using both culture dependent- and culture independent (qPCR) approaches, and (ii) to analyse the diversity of cultivable diesel-contaminating microorganisms with the purpose to create a strain collection for further use in biodeterioration experiments. Both methodological approaches revealed a high microbial contamination in all studied samples, with the bacterial load being much higher than the fungal load. The diversity of cultivable microorganisms was rather low. Based on criteria of abundance and fuel degradation potential, the most relevant microorganisms were identified as bacteria of genera Bacillus, Citrobacter, Burkholderia and Acetobacter, the filamentous fungi Paecilomyces variotii and Pseudallescheria boydii, and a Dipodascaceae yeast. Furthermore the validity and utility of qPCR-based methods are discussed. PB - Elsevier Ltd. KW - Fuel contamination KW - Biofouling KW - Cultivation KW - Real-time qPCR KW - Bacteria KW - Fungi PY - 2016 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/41260 AN - OPUS4-41260 SN - 0964-8305 SN - 1879-0208 VL - 126 SP - 216 EP - 223 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany