Reconstruction and evaluation of oil-degrading consortia isolated from sediments of hydrothermal vents in the South Mid-Atlantic Ridge

In this study, sediments were collected from two different sites in the deep-sea hydrothermal region of the South Atlantic Ocean. Two microbial enrichment cultures (H7S and H11S), which were enriched from the sediments collected at two sample sites, could effectively degrade petroleum hydrocarbons. The bacterial diversity was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing method. The petroleum degradation ability were evaluated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gravimetric analysis. We found that the dominant oil-degrading bacteria of enrichment cultures from the deep-sea hydrothermal area belonged to the genera Pseudomonas, Nitratireductor, Acinetobacter, and Brevundimonas. After a 14-day degradation experiment, the enrichment culture H11S, which was obtained near a hydrothermal vent, exhibited a higher degradation efficiency for alkanes (95%) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (88%) than the enrichment culture H7S. Interestingly, pristane and phytane as biomarkers were degraded up to 90% and 91% respectively by the enrichment culture H11S, and six culturable oil-degrading bacterial strains were isolated. Acinetobacter junii strain H11S-25, Nitratireductor sp. strain H11S-31 and Pseudomonas sp. strain H11S-28 were used at a density ratio of 95:4:1 to construct high-efficiency oil-degrading consortium H. After a three-day biodegradation experiment, consortium H showed high degradation efficiencies of 74.2% and 65.7% for total alkanes and PAHs, respectively. The degradation efficiency of biomarkers such as pristane and high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (such as CHR) reached 84.5% and 80.48%, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that the microorganisms in the deep-sea hydrothermal area are potential resources for degrading petroleum hydrocarbons. Consortium H, which was artificially constructed, showed a highly efficient oil-degrading capacity and has significant application prospects in oil pollution bioremediation.

Automated summary

Sediments from the deep-sea hydrothermal region of the South Atlantic Ocean were collected, from which microbial enrichment cultures capable of degrading petroleum hydrocarbons were identified. Dominant oil-degrading bacteria from this region belonged to genera Pseudomonas, Nitratireductor, Acinetobacter, and Brevundimonas. Consortium H, constructed from selected strains, demonstrated high oil-degrading efficiency and potential application prospects for oil pollution bioremediation.