Institute of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Surface Chemistry and Catalysis Group, Materials and Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Microbiologyopen. 2019 Jun;8(6):e00768. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.768. Epub 2018 Nov 16.
The Hatton-Rockall Basin (North-East Atlantic) is an area with potential for deep-sea (2,900 m) hydrocarbon exploration. Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, many investigations into the responses of sediment microbial communities to oil pollution have been undertaken. However, hydrostatic pressure is a parameter that is often omitted due to the technical difficulties associated with conducting experiments at high pressure (>10 MPa). In this study, sediments from 2,900 m in the Hatton-Rockall Basin, following a one-week decompression period in a temperature-controlled room at 5°C, were incubated in factorial combinations of 0.1 and 30 MPa, 5 and 20°C, and contamination with a hydrocarbon mixture or uncontaminated controls to evaluate the effect of these environmental variables on the bacterial community composition. Our results revealed varying effects of pressure, temperature, and oil contamination on the composition of the bacterial community within the sediment. Temperature was the strongest determinant of differences in the bacterial community structure between samples followed by pressure. Oil contamination did not exert a strong change in the sediment bacterial community structure when pressure and temperature conditions were held at in situ levels (30 MPa and 5°C). The γ-proteobacteria Pseudomonas and Colwellia, and several Bacteroidetes dominated communities at 30 MPa. In contrast, hydrocarbon degraders such as Halomonas, Alcanivorax, and Marinobacter decreased in relative abundance at the same pressure. This study highlights the importance of considering hydrostatic pressure in ex situ investigations into hydrocarbon-degrading deepwater microbial communities.
北海域(东北大西洋)是一个具有深海(2900 米)碳氢化合物勘探潜力的地区。在深水地平线石油泄漏事件之后,许多调查研究了沉积物微生物群落对石油污染的响应。然而,由于在高压(>10 MPa)下进行实验的技术困难,静压通常被忽略。在这项研究中,取自北海域 2900 米深处的沉积物在 5°C 的温度控制室中进行了为期一周的减压处理,然后在 0.1 和 30 MPa、5 和 20°C 的因子组合中进行培养,并与烃混合物污染或未污染对照进行培养,以评估这些环境变量对细菌群落组成的影响。我们的结果表明,压力、温度和石油污染对沉积物中细菌群落组成的影响各不相同。温度是决定样本间细菌群落结构差异的最强因素,其次是压力。当压力和温度条件保持在原位水平(30 MPa 和 5°C)时,石油污染不会对沉积物细菌群落结构产生强烈变化。γ-变形菌假单胞菌和柯林斯氏菌以及几种拟杆菌门在 30 MPa 下占主导地位。相比之下,在相同压力下,烃类降解菌如盐单胞菌、Alcanivorax 和 Marinobacter 的相对丰度下降。本研究强调了在现场外调查烃类降解深水微生物群落时考虑静压的重要性。