Development of a standard bacterial consortium for laboratory efficacy testing of commercial freshwater oil spill bioremediation agents

Foght, Julia M.; Semple, Kathleen M.; Westlake, D. W. S.; Blenkinsopp, Sandra; Sergy, Gary A.; Wang, Z; Fingas, Merv

doi:10.1038/sj.jim.2900594

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Many bioremediation companies offer such mixed cultures for sale to cope with environmental pollution (342), but third-party testing of such products has not proven them to be more effective than autochthonous microbial communities once additional nutrients and sorbents are removed (611,638). Standard assay procedures with simple consortia are being developed for Environment Canada (199,198) and the U.S. Evironmental Protection Agency (232) in order to test such products.…”

Section: Culture-based Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Petroleum Microbiology

Hamme¹,

Singh

Ward

2003

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

1,195

640

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Recent advances in molecular biology have extended our understanding of the metabolic processes related to microbial transformation of petroleum hydrocarbons. The physiological responses of microorganisms to the presence of hydrocarbons, including cell surface alterations and adaptive mechanisms for uptake and efflux of these substrates, have been characterized. New molecular techniques have enhanced our ability to investigate the dynamics of microbial communities in petroleum-impacted ecosystems. By establishing conditions which maximize rates and extents of microbial growth, hydrocarbon access, and transformation, highly accelerated and bioreactor-based petroleum waste degradation processes have been implemented. Biofilters capable of removing and biodegrading volatile petroleum contaminants in air streams with short substrate-microbe contact times (<60 s) are being used effectively. Microbes are being injected into partially spent petroleum reservoirs to enhance oil recovery. However, these microbial processes have not exhibited consistent and effective performance, primarily because of our inability to control conditions in the subsurface environment. Microbes may be exploited to break stable oilfield emulsions to produce pipeline quality oil. There is interest in replacing physical oil desulfurization processes with biodesulfurization methods through promotion of selective sulfur removal without degradation of associated carbon moieties. However, since microbes require an environment containing some water, a two-phase oil-water system must be established to optimize contact between the microbes and the hydrocarbon, and such an emulsion is not easily created with viscous crude oil. This challenge may be circumvented by application of the technology to more refined gasoline and diesel substrates, where aqueous-hydrocarbon emulsions are more easily generated. Molecular approaches are being used to broaden the substrate specificity and increase the rates and extents of desulfurization. Bacterial processes are being commercialized for removal of H2S and sulfoxides from petrochemical waste streams. Microbes also have potential for use in removal of nitrogen from crude oil leading to reduced nitric oxide emissions provided that technical problems similar to those experienced in biodesulfurization can be solved. Enzymes are being exploited to produce added-value products from petroleum substrates, and bacterial biosensors are being used to analyze petroleum-contaminated environments

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Section: Culture-based Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Petroleum Microbiology

Hamme¹,

Singh

Ward

2003

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

1,195

640

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“…Bacteria strains, media and growth conditions Pseudomonas fluorescens LP6a was used as the prey bacterium in dispersal and chemotaxis experiments (Foght et al, 1998). It was grown at 28°C on a rotary shaker at 150 rpm in Erlenmeyer flasks containing 200 ml of 1:10 diluted nutrient broth (1:10 dNB).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catch me if you can: dispersal and foraging ofBdellovibrio bacteriovorus109J along mycelia

et al. 2016

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To cope with heterogeneous environments and resource distributions, filamentous fungi have evolved a spatially extensive growth enabling their hyphae to penetrate air-water interfaces and pass through air-filled pores. Such mycelia are also known to act as dispersal networks for the mobilisation of bacteria ('fungal highways') and connection of microbial microhabitats. Hitherto, however, nothing is known about the effect of mycelia-based dispersal on interactions between bacterial predators and their prey and concomitant effects on biomass formation. We here hypothesise that mycelia enable the contact between predators and their prey and shape a prey's population. We investigated the impact of predation by Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus 109J on the growth of its potential prey Pseudomonas fluorescens LP6a in the presence of mycelia. Our data give evidence that hyphae increase the accessibility of the prey to B. bacteriovorus 109J and, hence, allow for efficient foraging and shaping of prey populations not seen in the absence of mycelia. To test our hypothesis tailored microbial landscapes were used for better reduction of emerging properties in complex systems. Our data suggest that mycelia have substantial influence on prey-predator relationship and hereby may promote the structure of prey and predator populations and, hence, may be a determinant for biomass formation in heterogeneous environments.

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“…The number of analytes was changed to focus on the more prevalent components of crude oil. These modifications, which were consistent with the Canadian protocol [4,7], were developed to improve the reproducibility and repeatability of the protocol. Results demonstrated that, of the three abiotic products tested in both GP2 and SFW, two (products C, I) significantly degraded both the aliphatics and the aromatics in both exposure waters, whereas the other (product F) caused no biodegradation activity in either medium.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At 30°C, seven of ten products enhanced the biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) after 90 days without nutrients, whereas none of the products in the presence of nutrients was able to degrade TPH better than the nutrients alone. Focht et al [7] developed a defined bacterial consortium of six bacteria for use as a standard inoculum for testing freshwater oil-spill bioremediation agents. This consortium was able to degrade both the alkane and aromatic fractions of crude oil reproducibly and predictably.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four products were tested and two were able to degrade >90% alkane and >60% aromatic hydrocarbons within 28 days. The Canadian freshwater protocol [4,7] differs in the incubation period (14 days), inoculum size, and oil content. In our opinion, a longer incubation period, 28 days, allows more time for the growth of organisms that may be slow to metabolize some oil compounds, especially PAHs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Laboratory evaluation of oil spill bioremediation products in salt and freshwater systems

Haines

Kleiner

McClellan

et al. 2005

J IND MICROBIOL BIOTECHNOL

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Ten oil spill bioremediation products were tested in the laboratory for their ability to enhance biodegradation of weathered Alaskan North Slope crude oil in both freshwater and saltwater media. The products included nutrients to stimulate inoculated microorganisms, nutrients plus an oil-degrading inoculum, nutrients plus compounds intended to stimulate oil-degrading activity, or other compounds intended to enhance microbial activity. The product tests were undertaken to evaluate significant modifications in the existing official United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocol used for qualifying commercial bioremediation agents for use in oil spills. The EPA protocol was modified to include defined formulas for the exposure waters (freshwater, saltwater), a positive control using a known inoculum and nutrients, two negative controls (one sterile, the other inoculated but nutrient-limited), and simplified oil chemical analysis. Three analysts conducted the product test independently in each type of exposure water in round-robin fashion. Statistical tests were performed on analyst variability, reproducibility, and repeatability, and the performance of the various products was quantified in both exposure media. Analysis of variance showed that the analyst error at each time-point was highly significant (P values ranged from 0.0001 to 0.008, depending on water type and oil fraction). In the saltwater tests, six products demonstrated various degrees of biodegradative activity against the alkane fraction of the crude oil and three degraded the aromatic hydrocarbons by >10%. In the freshwater tests, eight products caused >20% loss of alkane hydrocarbons, of which five degraded the alkanes by >50%. Only four products were able to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by >20%, one of which caused 88% removal. However, when the variability of the analysts was taken into consideration, only one of the ten products was found to yield significant percent removals of the PAH fraction and only in freshwater. Viable microorganism population analysis (most-probable-number method) was also performed on every sample by each operator to measure the changes in aromatic and alkane hydrocarbon-degrading organism numbers. In general, little evidence of significant growth of either alkane- or PAH-degraders occurred among any of the ten products in either the saltwater or freshwater testing.

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Development of a standard bacterial consortium for laboratory efficacy testing of commercial freshwater oil spill bioremediation agents

Cited by 21 publications

References 14 publications

Recent Advances in Petroleum Microbiology

Recent Advances in Petroleum Microbiology

Catch me if you can: dispersal and foraging ofBdellovibrio bacteriovorus109J along mycelia

Laboratory evaluation of oil spill bioremediation products in salt and freshwater systems

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