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Subsurface Associations of Acaryochloris-Related Picocyanobacteria with Oil-Utilizing Bacteria in the Arabian Gulf Water Body: Promising Consortia in Oil Sediment Bioremediation

  • Microbiology of Aquatic Systems
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Abstract

Two picocyanobacterial strains related to Acaryochloris were isolated from the Arabian Gulf, 3 m below the water surface, one from the north shore and the other from the south shore of Kuwait. Both strains were morphologically, ultrastructurally, and albeit to a less extend, phylogenetically similar to Acaryochloris. However, both isolates lacked chlorophyll d and produced instead chlorophyll a, as the major photosynthetic pigment. Both picocyanobacterial isolates were associated with oil-utilizing bacteria in the magnitude of 105 cells g−1. According to their 16S rRNA gene sequences, bacteria associated with the isolate from the north were affiliated to Paenibacillus sp., Bacillus pumilus, and Marinobacter aquaeolei, but those associated with the isolate from the south were affiliated to Bacillus asahii and Alcanivorax jadensis. These bacterial differences were probably due to environmental variations. In batch cultures, the bacterial consortia in the nonaxenic biomass as well as the pure bacterial isolates effectively consumed crude oil and pure aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, including very high-molecular-weight compounds. Water and diethylether extracts from the phototrophic biomass enhanced growth of individual bacterial isolates and their hydrocarbon-consumption potential in batch cultures. It was concluded that these consortia could be promising in bioremediation of hydrocarbon pollutants, especially heavy sediments in the marine ecosystem.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the University of Kuwait, research grant SL 09/08. Thanks are also due to the SAF unit and GRF, Kuwait University, for providing GLC (GS 02/01), HPLC (GS 03/01), UV–vis (GS 01/01), and genetic analyzer (GS 01/02) facilities.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat, 13060, Kuwait

    Dhia Al-Bader, Mohamed Eliyas, Rihab Rayan & Samir Radwan

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  1. Dhia Al-Bader
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  2. Mohamed Eliyas
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  3. Rihab Rayan
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  4. Samir Radwan
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Correspondence to Samir Radwan.

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Al-Bader, D., Eliyas, M., Rayan, R. et al. Subsurface Associations of Acaryochloris-Related Picocyanobacteria with Oil-Utilizing Bacteria in the Arabian Gulf Water Body: Promising Consortia in Oil Sediment Bioremediation. Microb Ecol 65, 555–565 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-012-0157-0

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