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A total of 15 fungal isolates were obtained from oil-contaminated sites near the Red Sea in the Yanbu region. Based on the preliminary DCPIP (2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol) assay, three isolates showed promising oil degrading ability. The next-generation sequencing of the ITS-I and ITS-II internal transcribed spacer regions assigned the isolates to Aspergillus and Penicillium. Among these three strains, Y2 (Aspergillus oryzae) was the most efficient, degrading about 99% of the crude oil. The degradation rates were corroborated using spectrophotometric and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses after two weeks of cultivation in Bushnell–Haas medium. All the three strains proved to be potent oil-degrading strains and, hence, can be utilized to degrade oil contaminants.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that is resistant to a large group of beta-lactam antibiotics. Rhazya stricta is a local shrub that grows naturally as a normal flora and is used as a medicinal plant by several nations for a lot of infectious diseases, caused by microorganisms. Therefore, the effect of the plant against different genotypes of methicillin-resistant S. aureus was tested in the present study. Molecular identification was done for the medical sampling of 44 MRSA and biodiversity approaches were applied to detect the mecA gene. The 16S rRNA genes analysis was performed for the construction of a phylogenetic tree. Later on, the antimicrobial effect of the plant leaves’ water extract was tested on different genotypes. MecA gene appeared in all isolates, except in methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus. The selected MRSA 16S rRNA sequences were sent to GenBank and six accession numbers (KM893010, KM893011, KP091274, KP091275, KP137513 and KP137514) were acquired. Also, an evolutionary analysis of these strains was done and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. Plant extracts showed that the interaction between pathogens and drugs is more efficient in a liquid environment than in a solid one.

Twenty-three crude-oil-degrading bacteria were isolated from oil-contaminated sites near the Red Sea. Based on a high growth rate on crude oil and on hydrocarbon degradation ability, four strains were selected from the 23 isolated strains for further study. These four strains were selected on the basis of dichlorophenolindophenol assay. The nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA gene showed that these isolated strains belonged to genus Pseudomonas and Nitratireductor. Among the four isolates, strains S5 (Pseudomonas sp., 95%) and 4b (Nitratireductor sp., 70%) were the most effective ones in degrading crude oil. Using a spectrophotometer and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, degradation of more than 90% of the crude oil was observed after two weeks of cultivation in Bushnell–Haas medium. The results showed that these strains have the ability to degrade crude oil and may be used for environmental remediation.