Anaerobic degradation of hexadecane and phenanthrene coupled to sulfate reduction by enriched consortia from northern Gulf of Mexico seafloor sediment.

ABSTRACT: To advance understanding of the fate of hydrocarbons released from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and deposited in marine sediments, this study characterized the microbial populations capable of anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation coupled with sulfate reduction in non-seep sediments of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Anaerobic, sediment-free enrichment cultures were obtained with either hexadecane or phenanthrene as sole carbon source and sulfate as a terminal electron acceptor. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that enriched microbial populations differed by hydrocarbon substrate, with abundant SSU rRNA gene amplicon sequences from hexadecane cultures showing high sequence identity (up to 98%) to Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans (family Desulfobacteraceae), while phenanthrene-enriched populations

SUBMITTER: Shin B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6361983 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature