biostudies-literatureGofstein TROil Spill Recovery InstituteU.S. Department of DefenseUniversity of Alaska FairbanksNational Institute of General Medical SciencesNational Defense Science and Engineering GraduateNIGMS NIH HHS51-59https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10103760biostudies-literatureUnknown15(1)While the genes and pathways responsible for petroleum biodegradation in marine environments have received substantial attention, considerably less is known about those active in the biodegradation of the commonly applied chemical dispersant Corexit 9500. Yet, their fate in the Arctic marine environment is an increasingly important unknown. To elucidate the genes and pathways active in the biodegradation of oil and dispersants, we performed metatranscriptomic sequencing on microbial communities in Arctic seawater exposed to oil, Corexit, or both for 0, 5, and 30 days in a mesocosm incubation experiment. While oil and Corexit stimulated significantly different metatranscriptomic profiles overall, both enriched a suite of fatty acid degradation gene transcripts. Based on the gene transcriptsEnvironmental microbiology reportsMetatranscriptomic shifts suggest shared biodegradation pathways for Corexit 9500 components and crude oil in Arctic seawater.PMC10103760TL4GM11899216‐10‐072P20GM103395UL1GM118991P20 GM103395RL5GM118990Leigh MBGofstein TRfalseMetatranscriptomic shifts suggest shared biodegradation pathways for Corexit 9500 components and crude oil in Arctic seawater.While the genes and pathways responsible for petroleum biodegradation in marine environments have received substantial attention, considerably less is known about those active in the biodegradation of the commonly applied chemical dispersant Corexit 9500. Yet, their fate in the Arctic marine environment is an increasingly important unknown. To elucidate the genes and pathways active in the biodegradation of oil and dispersants, we performed metatranscriptomic sequencing on microbial communities in Arctic seawater exposed to oil, Corexit, or both for 0, 5, and 30 days in a mesocosm incubation experiment. While oil and Corexit stimulated significantly different metatranscriptomic profiles overall, both enriched a suite of fatty acid degradation gene transcripts. Based on the gene transcripts2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Feb2025-04-18T13:57:04.987Z2025-04-06T23:49:34.45ZS-EPMC101037603617755410.1111/1758-2229.13127