Metagenomic analysis reveals specific BTEX degrading microorganisms of a bacterial consortium

Abstract

Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination is of environmental and public health concerns due to its toxic components. Bioremediation utilizes microbial organisms to metabolism and remove these contaminants. The aim of this study was to enrich a microbial community and examine its potential to degrade petroleum hydrocarbon. Through successive enrichment, we obtained a bacterial consortium using crude oil as sole carbon source. The 16 S rRNA gene analysis illustrated the structural characteristics of this community. Metagenomic analysis revealed the specific microbial organisms involved in the degradation of cyclohexane and all the six BTEX components, with a demonstration of the versatile metabolic pathways involved in these reactions. Results showed that our consortium contained the full range of CDSs that could potentially degrade cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, and (o-, m-, p-) xylene completely. Interestingly, a single taxon that possessed all the genes involved in either the activation or the central intermediates degrading pathway was not detected, except for the Novosphingobium which contained all the genes involved in the upper degradation pathway of benzene, indicating the synergistic interactions between different bacterial genera during the hydrocarbon degradation.

Bacterial Volatile Organic Compound Specialists in the Phycosphere

“…HTCC1062 metabolizes isoprene, acetone, acetaldehyde, DMS, and cyclohexanol, which are some of the most well-studied VOCs for their roles in sea-air exchange and atmospheric chemistry 18 . BTEX are produced by some algae 19 , and are growth substrates for a wide variety of bacteria isolated from oilfields 22,23 , soils 24 , groundwater 25 , and wastewater 26 . Less is known about BTEX consumption by marine bacteria, which is likely an important sink that limits BTEX emissions into the atmosphere 27 .…”