Hydrocarbon Biodegradation and Oil Spill Bioremediation

Frequency of genes in aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon biodegradation pathways within bacterial populations from Alaskan sediments

Canadian Journal of Microbiology ◽

10.1139/m94-157 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 40 (11) ◽

pp. 981-985 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

J. B. Sotsky ◽

C. W. Greer ◽

R. M. Atlas

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Aromatic Hydrocarbon ◽

Oil Spill ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Aliphatic Hydrocarbon ◽

Hydrocarbon Biodegradation ◽

Residual Oil ◽

Bacterial Populations ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

Alkb Genes

A significant proportion of the naturally occurring hydrocarbon-degrading populations within Alaskan sediments affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill had both the xylE and alkB genes and could convert hexadecane and naphthalene to carbon dioxide; a greater proportion of the population had xylE than had alkB, reflecting the composition of the residual oil at the time of sampling; nearly equal populations with xylE alone, alkB alone, and xylE + alkB genes together were found after exposure to fresh crude oil; populations with xylE lacking alkB increased after enrichment on naphthalene. Thus, the genotypes of hydrocarbon-degrading populations reflected the composition of the hydrocarbons to which they were exposed.Key words: hydrocarbon biodegradation, aromatic hydrocarbon biodegradation, aliphatic hydrocarbon biodegradation, alkB, xylE.

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Central Role of Dynamic Tidal Biofilms Dominated by Aerobic Hydrocarbonoclastic Bacteria and Diatoms in the Biodegradation of Hydrocarbons in Coastal Mudflats

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.00072-12 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 78 (10) ◽

pp. 3638-3648 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Frédéric Coulon ◽

Panagiota-Myrsini Chronopoulou ◽

Anne Fahy ◽

Sandrine Païssé ◽

Marisol Goñi-Urriza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Oil Spill ◽

Salt Marshes ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Fold Increase ◽

Sediment Surface ◽

Hydrocarbon Biodegradation ◽

Hydrocarbonoclastic Bacteria ◽

Content Type ◽

Polycyclic Aromatic

ABSTRACTMudflats and salt marshes are habitats at the interface of aquatic and terrestrial systems that provide valuable services to ecosystems. Therefore, it is important to determine how catastrophic incidents, such as oil spills, influence the microbial communities in sediment that are pivotal to the function of the ecosystem and to identify the oil-degrading microbes that mitigate damage to the ecosystem. In this study, an oil spill was simulated by use of a tidal chamber containing intact diatom-dominated sediment cores from a temperate mudflat. Changes in the composition of bacteria and diatoms from both the sediment and tidal biofilms that had detached from the sediment surface were monitored as a function of hydrocarbon removal. The hydrocarbon concentration in the upper 1.5 cm of sediments decreased by 78% over 21 days, with at least 60% being attributed to biodegradation. Most phylotypes were minimally perturbed by the addition of oil, but at day 21, there was a 10-fold increase in the amount of cyanobacteria in the oiled sediment. Throughout the experiment, phylotypes associated with the aerobic degradation of hydrocarbons, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Cycloclasticus) and alkanes (Alcanivorax,Oleibacter, andOceanospirillalesstrain ME113), substantively increased in oiled mesocosms, collectively representing 2% of the pyrosequences in the oiled sediments at day 21. Tidal biofilms from oiled cores at day 22, however, consisted mostly of phylotypes related toAlcanivorax borkumensis(49% of clones),Oceanospirillalesstrain ME113 (11% of clones), and diatoms (14% of clones). Thus, aerobic hydrocarbon biodegradation is most likely to be the main mechanism of attenuation of crude oil in the early weeks of an oil spill, with tidal biofilms representing zones of high hydrocarbon-degrading activity.

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