Oil-degrading bacterial consortium from Gulf of Mexico designed by a factorial method, reveals stable population dynamics

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science Vol. 9
• Main Authors: Rojas-Vargas, Jorge, Adaya, Libertad, Silva-Jiménez, Hortencia, Licea-Navarro, Alexei Fedorovish, Sanchez-Flores, Alejandro, Gracia, Adolfo, Pardo-López, Liliana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A 23.09.2022
• Subjects: Gulf of Mexico; hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria; marine bacteria consortium; marine bioremediation; oil-contaminated seawater; Plackett-Burman
• ISSN: 2296-7745; 2296-7745
• DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2022.962071

We describe an assembled marine bacterial consortium designed for bioremediation of oil-contaminated seawater, based on a statistical method using a Plackett-Burman (PB) experimental approach. The final consortium consists of four bacteria isolated from the Gulf of Mexico, from four genera: Pseudomonas, Halopseudomonas, Paenarthrobacter , and Alcanivorax . Individually, bacterial oil removal by these microorganisms was evaluated by gravimetry, reaching 39% at maximum after 75 days, whereas in consortium it was ~62%. We also measured biodegradation levels by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) observing 12 polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) degradation analyzed and n -alkanes degradation with a preference for specific chain length. Consortium population analysis using the V3-V4 region of 16S rRNA showed a stable community, suggesting that the metabolic load was distributed among bacteria and that stable dynamic interactions were achieved. In this work, we show that the use of a factorial method for synthetic consortium design offers the possibility of improving oil degradation efficiency with stable bacterial populations.