BTEX biodegradation by an indigenous deep subsurface microbial community was evaluated in a water sample collected in the area of an underground gas storage. Five different sulfate-reducing microbial communities able to use at least either benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, or xylene (BTEX) compounds were studied. A total of 21 different bacterial phylotypes were identified, each community containing three to nine bacterial phylotypes. Archaeal phylotypes were retrieved from only three communities. The analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that i) these consortia were mainly composed of novel species, some of which belonging to bacterial groups not previously suspected to be involved in BTEX anaerobic degradation, ii) three consortia were dominated by an uncultured Pelobacter sp. previously detected in biodegraded oil reservoirs, iii) a deeply branching species distantly affiliated to Thermotogales was abundant in two consortia, and that iv) Firmicutes related to the Desulfotomaculum and Carboxydocella genera represented the only three detectable phylotypes in a toluene-degrading consortium. This work shows that subdominant microbial populations present in a deep subsurface aquifer used for seasonal underground gas storage could be involved in the natural attenuation of the traces of BTEX coinjected with methane in the deep subsurface.

Deep subsurface aquifers despite difficult access, represent important water resources and, at the same time, are key locations for subsurface engineering activities for the oil and gas industries, geothermal energy, and CO2 or energy storage. Formation water originating from a 760 m-deep geological gas storage aquifer was sampled and microcosms were set up to test the biodegradation potential of BTEX by indigenous microorganisms. The microbial community diversity was studied using molecular approaches based on 16S rRNA genes. After a long incubation period, with several subcultures, a sulfate-reducing consortium composed of only two Desulfotomaculum populations was observed able to degrade benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene, extending the number of hydrocarbonoclastic–related species among the Desulfotomaculum genus. Furthermore, we were able to couple specific carbon and hydrogen isotopic fractionation during benzene removal and the results obtained by dual compound specific isotope analysis (𝜀C = -2.4‰ ± 0.3‰; 𝜀H = -57‰ ± 0.98‰; AKIEC: 1.0146 ± 0.0009, and AKIEH: 1.5184 ± 0.0283) were close to those obtained previously in sulfate-reducing conditions: this finding could confirm the existence of a common enzymatic reaction involving sulfate-reducers to activate benzene anaerobically. Although we cannot assign the role of each population of Desulfotomaculum in the mono-aromatic hydrocarbon degradation, this study suggests an important role of the genus Desulfotomaculum as potential biodegrader among indigenous populations in subsurface habitats. This community represents the simplest model of benzene-degrading anaerobes originating from the deepest subterranean settings ever described. As Desulfotomaculum species are often encountered in subsurface environments, this study provides some interesting results for assessing the natural response of these specific hydrologic systems in response to BTEX contamination during remediation projects.

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Because Lactuca sativa L. is a plant widely used in ecotoxicological analyses, a study was developed to determine whether the fatty acid composition of lettuce leaves could be used as an additional biomarker of soil contamination by metals such as Pb, Cu, Zn, and Cd. Unlike seed germination or seedling growth, the fatty acid composition of lettuce leaves differed significantly between uncontaminated and field metal-contaminated soils. Hence, this lipid biomarker might provide an early indication of a plant's exposure to metals and the potential bioavailability of metals, and could facilitate or strengthen the diagnosis of soil contamination. Not only is the experimental protocol cheap, rapid, and easy, but the values of the lipid biomarker are highly reproducible when seedlings are grown at the same light intensity. In addition, the values of the biomarker did not vary greatly when 14- to 18-day-old plants were analyzed and when slight differences were introduced in the experimental conditions used to determine the leaf fatty acid composition.