Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy • Author Copy Introduction Modern society ’s demand for petroleum and its derivatives is constantly increasing, leading to anthropogenic pollution with a great variety of xenobiotic compounds, mostly due to processing, transportation and improper stocking. Thus, all types of ecosystems can be compromised, endangering human well-being as well as wildlife and plants, the last one having a main role in the living world [1]. Plants perform many ecological functions in their environment, shaping the life of all living things that become directly or indirectly dependent on plants [2, 3]. The ability of plants to fulfl their functions primarily depend on the appropriate climatic and edaphic conditions [4]. Therefore, the complex structure of soil alongside the biological and biochemical processes mediated by microorganisms represent the basis of a terrestrial ecosystem, as well as its relationship with plants [5-7]. Pol. J. Environ. Stud. Vol. 29, No. 1 (2020), 1-7 Original Research Metabolic and Molecular Profling of Microbial Communities Following Controlled Kerosene Pollution Ioana Mereuta, Ana-Maria Tanase*, Iulia Chiciudean, Tatiana Vassu, Ileana Stoica Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania Received: 3 July 2018 Accepted: 3 September 2018 Abstract The release of xenobiotic compounds as petroleum and its derivatives still represents a problematic and not fully manageable consequence of various anthropogenic activities. Thus, endogenous microbial communities facing such pollutants are constantly adapting to new conditions, their evaluation being an important asset for environmental preservation. This study analyzes structural and metabolic shifts in a soil microbial community following kerosene pollution. Metabolic profles from Biolog EcoPlate, analyzed as a guild grouping, Shannon diversity index (H index) and functional divergence revealed a signifcant reorganization followed by specialization in communities’ metabolic function, also being supported by molecular profles from ribosomal RNA ( rRNA) intergenic spacer analysis (RISA) fngerprinting. Highly intense metabolic activity and structural changes are suggested by the increase in alkB and rRNA genes copy number, having similar trends. Thus, alkB gene copy number increased in 70 days from 5.53×10 9 to 1.67×10 11 copies. In this study we managed to report the changes that occur in a soil microbial community facing kerosene pollution using a signifcant number of complementary techniques, resulting in a complex characterization that can be of great use when facing kerosene-type pollutants. Keywords: kerosene pollution, metabolic profling, risa, alkB copy number, 16S rRNA copy number *e-mail: ana-maria.tanase@bio.unibuc.ro DOI: 10.15244/pjoes/94810 ONLINE PUBLICATION DATE: