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Taxonomic and Predictive Functional Profile of Hydrocarbonoclastic Bacterial Consortia Developed at Three Different Temperatures

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Abstract

Microbial community exhibit shift in composition in response to temperature variation. We report crude oil-degrading activity and high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing (metagenome) profiles of four bacterial consortia enriched at three different temperatures in crude oil-amended Bushnell–Hass Medium from an oily sludge sediment. The consortia were referred to as O (4 ± 2 ℃ in 3% w/v crude oil), A (25 ± 2 ℃ in 1% w/v crude oil), H (25 ± 2 ℃ in 3% w/v crude oil), and X (45 ± 2 ℃ in 3% w/v crude oil). The hydrocarbon-degrading activity was highest for consortium A and H and lowest for consortium O. The metagenome profile revealed the predominance of Proteobacteria (62.12–1.25%) in each consortium, followed by Bacteroidota (18.94–37.77%) in the consortium O, A, and H. Contrarily, consortium X comprised 7.38% Actinomycetota, which was essentially low (< 0.09%) in other consortia, and only 0.41% Bacteroidota. The PICRUSt-based functional analysis predicted major functions associated with the metabolism and 5060 common KEGG Orthology (KOs). A total of 296 KOs were predicted exclusively in consortium X. Additionally, 247 KOs were predicted from xenobiotic biodegradation pathways. This study found that temperature had a stronger influence on the composition and function of the bacterial community than crude oil concentration.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Department of Science and Technology, Government of India grant number: CRG/2022/002550. We are thankful to the Head, Department of Biochemistry, North-Eastern Hill University, India for providing the infrastructural facility for carrying out this research study. Fellowship grant from DRS-III SAP, UGC to NAS, and DR DS Kothari Fellowship to PS is gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 793022, India

    Ningombam A. Singha, Roselin Neihsial, Lhinglamkim Kipgen, Waniabha J. Lyngdoh, Jopthiaw Nongdhar, Bobby Chettri, Prabhakar Singh & Arvind K. Singh

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  1. Ningombam A. Singha
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  2. Roselin Neihsial
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Contributions

AKS and NAS conceptualized and designed the experiments. NAS, RN, BC, and WJL conducted experiments for biodegradation of crude oil. NAS and RN designed and conducted the bioinformatics analysis strategy with assistance from LK, WJL, JN, and PS for data analyses. AKS and NAS prepared the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Prabhakar Singh.

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Singha, N.A., Neihsial, R., Kipgen, L. et al. Taxonomic and Predictive Functional Profile of Hydrocarbonoclastic Bacterial Consortia Developed at Three Different Temperatures. Curr Microbiol 81, 22 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-023-03529-0

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