The invention is directed to a process for the degradation of one or more hydrocarbons as present in an aqueous feed solution, wherein the one or more hydrocarbons are at least one of phenol, methyl phenyl ketone and methyl phenyl carbinol. The degradation takes place in a series of two or more continuously operated bio-electrochemical cells thereby defining at least one upstream bio-electrochemical cell and one downstream bio-electrochemical cell and wherein an applied cell voltage in each bio-electrochemical cell is different. The bio-electrochemical cell comprises a culture of microorganisms. The one or more hydrocarbons are converted at the anode whereby carbon dioxide, protons and optionally degradation products are formed. At the cathode carbon dioxide and/or the optional degradation products are reacted with the protons to methane. A treated aqueous solution is so obtained having a reduced content of the one or more hydrocarbons.

The present invention refers to the heterologous production in microorganisms of modified versions of a predicted isoform of the surfactant protein Lv-ranaspumin-1 (Lv-Rsn-1), whose sequence was inferred from analyzes of the protein extract of the nest foam from the Northeastern Pepper Frog (Leptodactylus vastus). More specifically, it refers to two surfactant proteins that consist of modified versions of the predicted isoform of Lv-Rsn-1; to two synthetic genes each encoding one of these modified versions of the predicted isoform of Lv-Rsn-1; to two expression cassettes each containing one of the synthetic genes encoding one of the modified versions of the predicted isoform of Lv-Rsn-1; to two expression vectors each containing one of the synthetic genes encoding modified versions of the predicted isoform of Lv-Rsn-1; and to two transgenic microorganisms, a bacterium and a yeast, each transformed with one of these synthetic genes and heterologously producing one of the modified versions of the predicted isoform of Lv-Rsn-1. Lv-Rsn-1 has surfactancy, emulsification and dispersancy properties, among others, and its heterologous production allows it to be used in various applications and industrial products, without the need to extract it from the frog nest foam.