Ranchou-Peyruse Magali, Guignard Marion, Casteran Franck, Abadie Maïder, Defois Clémence, Peyret Pierre, Dequidt David, Caumette Guilhem, Chiquet Pierre, Cézac Pierre, Ranchou-Peyruse Anthony
IPREM, Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l'Environnement et les Matériaux, Université de Pau & Pays Adour/E2S-UPPA, Pau, France.
Laboratoire de thermique, énergétique et procédés IPRA, EA1932, Université de Pau & Pays Adour/E2S-UPPA, Pau, France.
Front Microbiol. 2021 Oct 13;12:688929. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.688929. eCollection 2021.
Deep aquifers (up to 2km deep) contain massive volumes of water harboring large and diverse microbial communities at high pressure. Aquifers are home to microbial ecosystems that participate in physicochemical balances. These microorganisms can positively or negatively interfere with subsurface (i) energy storage (CH and H), (ii) CO sequestration; and (iii) resource (water, rare metals) exploitation. The aquifer studied here (720m deep, 37°C, 88bar) is naturally oligotrophic, with a total organic carbon content of <1mg.L and a phosphate content of 0.02mg.L. The influence of natural gas storage locally generates different pressures and formation water displacements, but it also releases organic molecules such as monoaromatic hydrocarbons at the gas/water interface. The hydrocarbon biodegradation ability of the indigenous microbial community was evaluated in this work. The microbial community was dominated by sulfate-reducing (e.g., Sva0485 lineage, Thermodesulfovibriona, , , and ), fermentative (e.g., SCADC1_2_3, Anaerolineae lineage and ), and homoacetogenic bacteria (" Acetothermia") with a few archaeal representatives (e.g., , , and members of the Bathyarcheia class), suggesting a role of H in microenvironment functioning. Monoaromatic hydrocarbon biodegradation is carried out by sulfate reducers and favored by concentrated biomass and slightly acidic conditions, which suggests that biodegradation should preferably occur in biofilms present on the surfaces of aquifer rock, rather than by planktonic bacteria. A simplified bacterial community, which was able to degrade monoaromatic hydrocarbons at atmospheric pressure over several months, was selected for incubation experiments at pressure (i.e., 90bar). These showed that the abundance of various bacterial genera was altered, while taxonomic diversity was mostly unchanged. The candidate phylum Acetothermia was characteristic of the community incubated at 90bar. This work suggests that even if pressures on the order of 90bar do not seem to select for obligate piezophilic organisms, modifications of the thermodynamic equilibria could favor different microbial assemblages from those observed at atmospheric pressure.
深层含水层(深度可达2千米)含有大量的水,在高压环境下孕育着庞大且多样的微生物群落。含水层是参与物理化学平衡的微生物生态系统的家园。这些微生物能够对地下(i)能量储存(CH和H)、(ii)CO封存以及(iii)资源(水、稀有金属)开采产生积极或消极的影响。此处研究的含水层(深度720米,温度37°C,压力88巴)天然贫营养,总有机碳含量<1mg.L,磷酸盐含量为0.02mg.L。天然气储存的影响在局部产生了不同的压力和地层水位移,但同时也在气/水界面释放出单环芳烃等有机分子。本研究评估了本地微生物群落对烃类的生物降解能力。该微生物群落以硫酸盐还原菌(如Sva0485谱系、嗜热脱硫弧菌属等)、发酵菌(如SCADC1_2_3、厌氧绳菌纲谱系等)和产乙酸菌(“乙酸热菌”)为主,还有少数古菌代表(如、、深海古菌纲成员),这表明H在微环境功能中发挥着作用。单环芳烃的生物降解由硫酸盐还原菌进行,且在生物量集中和微酸性条件下更有利,这表明生物降解更可能发生在含水层岩石表面的生物膜中,而非浮游细菌。选取了一个能够在大气压下数月内降解单环芳烃的简化细菌群落进行90巴压力(即90bar)下的培养实验。结果表明,各种细菌属的丰度发生了变化,而分类多样性大多未变。候选门乙酸热菌是90巴压力下培养群落的特征。这项研究表明,即使90巴左右的压力似乎并未筛选出专性嗜压生物,但热力学平衡的改变可能有利于形成与大气压下观察到的不同的微生物组合。