Raggi Luciana, García-Guevara Fernando, Godoy-Lozano E Ernestina, Martínez-Santana Adrian, Escobar-Zepeda Alejandra, Gutierrez-Rios Rosa María, Loza Antonio, Merino Enrique, Sanchez-Flores Alejandro, Licea-Navarro Alexei, Pardo-Lopez Liliana, Segovia Lorenzo, Juarez Katy
Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
CONACYT-Laboratorio de Biotecnología Acuícola, Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Mexico.
Front Microbiol. 2020 Aug 11;11:1825. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01825. eCollection 2020.
The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is a particular environment that is continuously exposed to hydrocarbon compounds that may influence the microbial community composition. We carried out a metagenomic assessment of the bacterial community to get an overall view of this geographical zone. We analyzed both taxonomic and metabolic markers profiles to explain how the indigenous GoM microorganims participate in the biogeochemical cycling. Two geographically distant regions in the GoM, one in the north-west (NW) and one in the south-east (SE) of the GoM were analyzed and showed differences in their microbial composition and metabolic potential. These differences provide evidence the delicate equilibrium that sustains microbial communities and biogeochemical cycles. Based on the taxonomy and gene groups, the NW are more oxic sediments than SE ones, which have anaerobic conditions. Both water and sediments show the expected sulfur, nitrogen, and hydrocarbon metabolism genes, with particularly high diversity of the hydrocarbon-degrading ones. Accordingly, many of the assigned genera were associated with hydrocarbon degradation processes, and were the most abundant in sediments, while , , and were mostly detected in water samples. This basal-state analysis presents the GoM as a potential source of aerobic and anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation genes important for the ecological dynamics of hydrocarbons and the potential use for water and sediment bioremediation processes.
墨西哥湾（GoM）是一个特殊的环境，持续暴露于可能影响微生物群落组成的碳氢化合物中。我们对细菌群落进行了宏基因组评估，以全面了解这个地理区域。我们分析了分类学和代谢标记物图谱，以解释墨西哥湾本地微生物如何参与生物地球化学循环。对墨西哥湾两个地理上相距遥远的区域进行了分析，一个在墨西哥湾的西北部（NW），另一个在东南部（SE），结果显示它们的微生物组成和代谢潜力存在差异。这些差异为维持微生物群落和生物地球化学循环的微妙平衡提供了证据。基于分类学和基因组，西北部的沉积物比东南部的沉积物氧化性更强，东南部具有厌氧条件。水和沉积物中均显示出预期的硫、氮和碳氢化合物代谢基因，其中碳氢化合物降解基因的多样性尤其高。相应地，许多已确定的属与碳氢化合物降解过程相关，并且在沉积物中最为丰富，而 、 和 大多在水样中检测到。这种基础状态分析表明，墨西哥湾是有氧和厌氧碳氢化合物降解基因的潜在来源，对碳氢化合物的生态动态以及水和沉积物生物修复过程的潜在用途具有重要意义。
