Microbial Communities across Global Marine Basins Show Important Compositional Similarities by Depth

John I Miller; Stephen Techtmann; Dominique Joyner; Nagissa Mahmoudi; Julian Fortney; James A Fordyce; Nargiz GaraJayeva; Faig S Askerov; Claudio Cravid; Maarten Kuijper; Oliver Pelz; Terry C Hazen

doi:10.1128/mBio.01448-20

Microbial Communities across Global Marine Basins Show Important Compositional Similarities by Depth

mBio. 2020 Aug 18;11(4):e01448-20. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01448-20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Bredesen Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
² Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
³ Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
⁴ BP International, Sunbury on Thames, United Kingdom.
⁵ Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA tchazen@utk.edu.

Abstract

The environmental surveys following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill identified a variety of hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms, and laboratory studies with field-collected water samples then demonstrated faster-than-expected hydrocarbon biodegradation rates at 5°C. Knowledge about microbial community composition, diversity, and functional metabolic capabilities aids in understanding and predicting petroleum biodegradation by microbial communities in situ and is therefore an important component of the petroleum spill response decision-making process. This study investigates the taxonomic composition of microbial communities in six different global basins where petroleum and gas activities occur. Shallow-water communities were strikingly similar across basins, while deep-water communities tended to show subclusters by basin, with communities from the epipelagic, mesopelagic, and bathypelagic zones sometimes appearing within the same cluster. Microbial taxa that were enriched in the water column in the Gulf of Mexico following the DWH spill were found across marine basins. Several hydrocarbon-degrading genera (e.g., Actinobacteria, Pseudomonas, and Rhodobacteriacea) were common across all basins. Other genera such as Pseudoalteromonas and Oleibacter were highly enriched in specific basins.IMPORTANCE Marine microbial communities are a vital component of global carbon cycling, and numerous studies have shown that populations of petroleum-degrading bacteria are ubiquitous in the oceans. Few studies have attempted to distinguish all of the taxa that might contribute to petroleum biodegradation (including, e.g., heterotrophic and nondesignated microbes that respond positively to petroleum and microbes that grow on petroleum as the sole carbon source). This study quantifies the subpopulations of microorganisms that are expected to be involved in petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation, which is important information during the decision-making process in the event of a petroleum spill accident.

Keywords: genomics; marine microbiology; microbial communities; microbial ecology; oil biodegradation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacteria / classification*
Biodegradation, Environmental
Genetic Variation*
Microbiota*
Petroleum / metabolism
Phylogeny
Seawater / microbiology*

Substances

Petroleum