Response of marine bacteria to oil contamination and to high pressure and low temperature deep sea conditions

Abstract

The effect of pressure and temperature on microbial communities of marine environments contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons is understudied. This study aims to reveal the responses of marine bacterial communities to low temperature, high pressure, and contamination with petroleum hydrocarbons using seawater samples collected near an offshore Brazilian platform. Microcosms containing only seawater and those containing seawater contaminated with 1% crude oil were subjected to three different treatments of temperature and pressure as follows: (1) 22°C/0.1 MPa; (2) 4°C/0.1 MPa; and (3) 4°C/22 MPa. The effect of depressurization followed by repressurization on bacterial communities was also evaluated (4°C/22 MPaD). The structure and composition of the bacterial communities in the different microcosms were analyzed by PCR-DGGE and DNA sequencing, respectively. Contamination with oil influenced the structure of the bacterial communities in microcosms incubated either at 4°C or 22°C and at low pressure. Incubation at low temperature and high pressure greatly influenced the structure of bacterial communities even in the absence of oil contamination. The 4°C/22 MPa and 4°C/22 MPaD treatments resulted in similar DGGE profiles. DNA sequencing (after 40 days of incubation) revealed that the diversity and relative abundance of bacterial genera were related to the presence or absence of oil contamination in the nonpressurized treatments. In contrast, the variation in the relative abundances of bacterial genera in the 4°C/22 MPa-microcosms either contaminated or not with crude oil was less evident. The highest relative abundance of the phylum Bacteroidetes was observed in the 4°C/22 MPa treatment.

Keywords: bacterial communities; deep sea; oil contamination; pressure; seawater; temperature.