Suggested Citation:"Appendix I: Table of Common Hydrocarbon Degraders." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Oil in the Sea IV: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26410.
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Appendix I
Table of Common Hydrocarbon Degraders
TABLE I.1 Some Commonly Detected Marine Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria (Aerobic Degraders Unless Otherwise Indicated)
| Preferred Substrate(s) | Organism Name | Typical Marine Environment | Comments | Selected Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALIPHATICS | ||||
| Methane | Methylomonas spp. | Natural gas seeps | Obligate methanotroph. Enriched in Deepwater Horizon plume during methane depletion | Dubinsky et al., 2013 |
| n-Alkanes C9–C32; iso-alkanes (e.g., isoprenoids); alkyl components of alkyl-cycloalkanes and alkyl aromatics | Alcanivorax borkumensis | Ubiquitous in marine ecosystems (water, sediment, coastal, deep sea); rare in pristine waters; DNA detected in polar areas but only isolated from more temperate environments | Obligate hydrocarbonoclastic species; produces biosurfactants, forms emulsions; early responder; widespread; found in partnership with marine invertebrates; often early to bloom in response to oil | Yakimov et al., 1998, 2007; Dutta and Harayama, 2001; Gregson et al., 2019; Joye and Kostka 2020; Van Landuyt et al., 2020 |
| Methane and liquid alkanes | Candidatus Macondimonas diazotrophica | Oil-contaminated marine sediments worldwide | Bloomed in Gulf of Mexico after Deepwater Horizon to 30% of total sediment microbes; N2 fixer | Karthikeyan et al., 2019 |
| Gaseous and liquid n-alkanes; cycloalkanes | Order Oceanospirillales: Oceanospirillum Oceaniserpentilla Bermanella | Cold marine waters | Various genera dominant during Deepwater Horizon spill; genes for mono-aromatic and PAH degradation detected but expressed poorly | Mason et al., 2012; Kleindienst et al., 2016; Hu et al., 2017 |
| Alkanes | Oleibacter spp. | Temperate water; deep water (Mariana Trench) | Only one species has been cultivated; others detected using ‘omics | Lofthus et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2019; Schreiber et al., 2021 |
| Alkanes | Oleiphilus messinensis | Sponge symbiont | Obligate hydrocarbonoclastic species | Golyshin et al., 2002; Yakimov et al., 2007 |
| Alkanes | Oleispira antarctica | Cold water and high latitudes; sea ice | Psychrophilic; may also degrade Corexit 9500A components | Yakimov et al., 2003; Kube et al., 2013; Boccadoro et al., 2018; Lofthus et al., 2018; McFarlin et al., 2018 |
| >C16 n-alkanes; Isoprenoids (e.g., squalane) n-Alkanes | Alkanindiges illinoisensis | Few reports in marine systems; Arctic beach, marine biofilms | Obligate hydrocarbonoclastic species | Røberg et al., 2011; Vergeynst et al., 2019a |
| Thalassolituus oleivorans | Marine waters and sediments | Obligate hydrocarbonoclastic species; particularly associated with cold oil biodegradation; degrades nC10–nC32 but not pristane | Yakimov et al., 2004 Brakstad et al. 2015b; Gregson et al., 2018; Shtratnikova et al., 2018 | |
| n-Alkanes | Halomonas neptunia Halomonas titanicae | Cold marine (deep sea and Antarctic surface water) | Produces bio-emulsifier when growing on hydrocarbon | Pepi et al., 2005; Van Landuyt et al., 2020 |
Suggested Citation:"Appendix I: Table of Common Hydrocarbon Degraders." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Oil in the Sea IV: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26410.
×
| Preferred Substrate(s) | Organism Name | Typical Marine Environment | Comments | Selected Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n-Alkanes | Zhongshania spp. | Cold marine water | Early responder in cold seawater, possibly specializing in short- to medium-chain alkanes | Ribicic et al., 2018; Murphy et al., 2021 |
| n-Alkanes | Paraperlucidibaca | Cold marine water | Metagenome detected in sub-Arctic marine sediments incubated with diesel or crude oil | Murphy et al., 2021 |
| n-Alkanes | Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus clade | Marine seeps | Anaerobic degradation via sulfate reduction | Kleindienst et al., 2014 |
| AROMATICS WITH OR WITHOUT ALIPHATICS | ||||
| Aromatics including PAHs and PACs; also ethane, propane, butane | Cycloclasticus spp. | Global distribution | Obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bacterial genus; associated with dilbit degradation by ‘omics | Kasai et al., 2002; Yakimov et al., 2007; Brakstad et al. 2015b; Messina et al., 2016; Rubin-Blum et al., 2017; Gutierrez et al., 2018; Murphy et al., 2021; Schreiber et al., 2021 |
| PAH and long-chain alkanes | Marinobacter spp. | Ubiquitous | Form biofilms and produce emulsifiers; tolerates high salt concentrations | Gauthier et al., 1992; Yakimov et al., 2007; Brakstad et al. 2015b Laio et al., 2015; Murphy et al., 2021 |
| PAH and various alkanes | Pseudoalteromonas | Global distribution; versatile heterotroph | Enriched in cold North Sea water microcosms with oil | Chronopoulou et al., 2015 |
| Short-chain alkanes (C2–C4), benzene, PAHs | Colwellia spp. | Global distribution, but certain strains are adapted to cold marine water and sea ice; also detected in deep sea sediments | Associated with marine oil snow; possibly sensitive to hydrostatic pressure; may metabolize dispersant components | Bælum et al. 2012; Redmond and Valentine, 2012; Dubinsky et al., 2013; Mason et al., 2014a,b; Brakstad et al., 2015b; Barbato and Scoma, 2020 |
| PAH | Dietzia spp. | Arctic seafloor sediments; Antarctic sediments | Predominant sequence in 16S marker gene survey; degrades phenanthrene and emulsifies diesel | Dong et al., 2015; Ausuri et al., 2021 |
NOTE: A more comprehensive list of hydrocarbon-degrading prokaryotes, including from terrestrial and freshwater sources, has been prepared by Prince et al. (2018).
