Profiling microbial community structures across six large oilfields in China and the potential role of dominant microorganisms in bioremediation

Abstract

Successful bioremediation of oil pollution is based on a comprehensive understanding of the in situ physicochemical conditions and indigenous microbial communities as well as the interaction between microorganisms and geochemical variables. Nineteen oil-contaminated soil samples and five uncontaminated controls were taken from six major oilfields across different geoclimatic regions in China to investigate the spatial distribution of the microbial ecosystem. Microbial community analysis revealed remarkable variation in microbial diversity between oil-contaminated soils taken from different oilfields. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) further demonstrated that a suite of in situ geochemical parameters, including soil moisture and sulfate concentrations, were among the factors that influenced the overall microbial community structure and composition. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the vast majority of sequences were related to the genera Arthrobacter, Dietzia, Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus, and Marinobacter, many of which contain known oil-degrading or oil-emulsifying species. Remarkably, a number of archaeal genera including Halalkalicoccus, Natronomonas, Haloterrigena, and Natrinema were found in relatively high abundance in some of the oil-contaminated soil samples, indicating that these Euryarchaeota may play an important ecological role in some oil-contaminated soils. This study offers a direct and reliable reference of the diversity of the microbial community in various oil-contaminated soils and may influence strategies for in situ bioremediation of oil pollution.

Microbial community composition in alpine lake sediments from the Hengduan Mountains

“…Soil DNA Kit (OMEGA, Georgia, GA) as indicated in the instructions (Peng, Zi, & Wang, ). The V4 region of 16S rRNA gene was amplified by PCR using primers 515F (5′‐GTGCCAGCMGCCGCGGTAA‐3′) and 806R (5′‐GGACTACHVGGGTWTCTAAT‐ 3′) (Sun et al., , ). The primer pair has been shown to generate optimal community clustering with the sequence length in the V4 region (Caporaso et al., ).…”

Natronomonas salsuginis sp. nov., a New Inhabitant of a Marine Solar Saltern

“…In order to determine the pH range (and optimum) for growth of strain F20-122 T , the isolate was cultured under the optimal salt concentration conditions, adjusting the medium to pH 5.0, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, and 10.0 with the addition of the appropriate buffers [56]. The optimal and range of temperature were determined by incubating strain F20-122 T under the optimal salt concentration and pH conditions, at temperatures of 4,15,20,25,30,37,40,45,50,55, and 60 • C. Growth rates were determined by monitoring the increase in the optical density at 600 nm.…”

“…Besides, several studies have focused on the biotechnological potential of its enzymes [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. On the other hand, several culture-independent studies have also shown the presence of members of the genus Natronomonas in different environments from widely separated sites, such as hypersaline and alkaline lakes, solar salterns, saline-alkaline soils, and sediments or oil fields [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], supporting the widespread distribution of species of this genus.…”

Archaea in Natural and Impacted Brazilian Environments

“…Interestingly, these results suggesting a reduction of archaeal relative abundance in oil-contaminated soils from Trindade island are controversial to what was observed for Chinese oilfields contaminated soils, which detected an increase of archaeal sequences [121]. In this study, soils from six major oilfields in China were compared with undisturbed soils and the number of archaeal sequences, mostly associated to halophilic Euryarchaeota, was much higher in contaminated soils, suggesting that oil contamination may stimulate the enrichment of such archaea and indicating that, as proposed by other studies [122–124], halophilic archaea may have a role in oil biodegradation in certain in situ geochemical conditions.…”