Methanogenic Hydrocarbon Degradation: Evidence from Field and Laboratory Studies

Jiménez, Núria; Richnow, Hans H.; Vogt, Carsten; Treude, Tina; Krüger, Martin

doi:10.1159/000441679

Cited by 46 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 147 publications

(209 reference statements)

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“…Current concepts and insights into anaerobic degradation of hydrocarbons coupled to methanogenesis are summarized by Jiménez et al [2016]. The process of methanogenic degradation of hydrocarbons prevails at sites that are depleted of electron acceptors (e.g.…”

Section: Methanogenic Degradation Of Hydrocarbonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anaerobic Microbial Degradation of Hydrocarbons: From Enzymatic Reactions to the Environment

et al. 2016

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Hydrocarbons are abundant in anoxic environments and pose biochemical challenges to their anaerobic degradation by microorganisms. Within the framework of the Priority Program 1319, investigations funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft on the anaerobic microbial degradation of hydrocarbons ranged from isolation and enrichment of hitherto unknown hydrocarbon-degrading anaerobic microorganisms, discovery of novel reactions, detailed studies of enzyme mechanisms and structures to process-oriented in situ studies. Selected highlights from this program are collected in this synopsis, with more detailed information provided by theme-focused reviews of the special topic issue on ‘Anaerobic biodegradation of hydrocarbons' [this issue, pp. 1-244]. The interdisciplinary character of the program, involving microbiologists, biochemists, organic chemists and environmental scientists, is best exemplified by the studies on alkyl-/arylalkylsuccinate synthases. Here, research topics ranged from in-depth mechanistic studies of archetypical toluene-activating benzylsuccinate synthase, substrate-specific phylogenetic clustering of alkyl-/arylalkylsuccinate synthases (toluene plus xylenes, p-cymene, p-cresol, 2-methylnaphthalene, n-alkanes), stereochemical and co-metabolic insights into n-alkane-activating (methylalkyl)succinate synthases to the discovery of bacterial groups previously unknown to possess alkyl-/arylalkylsuccinate synthases by means of functional gene markers and in situ field studies enabled by state-of-the-art stable isotope probing and fractionation approaches. Other topics are Mo-cofactor-dependent dehydrogenases performing O₂-independent hydroxylation of hydrocarbons and alkyl side chains (ethylbenzene, p-cymene, cholesterol, n-hexadecane), degradation of p-alkylated benzoates and toluenes, glycyl radical-bearing 4-hydroxyphenylacetate decarboxylase, novel types of carboxylation reactions (for acetophenone, acetone, and potentially also benzene and naphthalene), W-cofactor-containing enzymes for reductive dearomatization of benzoyl-CoA (class II benzoyl-CoA reductase) in obligate anaerobes and addition of water to acetylene, fermentative formation of cyclohexanecarboxylate from benzoate, and methanogenic degradation of hydrocarbons.

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Section: Methanogenic Degradation Of Hydrocarbonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anaerobic Microbial Degradation of Hydrocarbons: From Enzymatic Reactions to the Environment

et al. 2016

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“…This reinforces the role of hydrogen/formate‐consuming microorganisms during anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation (Table ). Those genera were also previously found in enrichment cultures and in environmental samples contaminated with hydrocarbons (Embree et al ., , ; Jiménez et al ., ). The only acetoclastic methanogens detected belong to Methanosaeta genus, which was present in all samples.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The slow biodegradation of 1-hexadecene to methane by the enriched culture He(3) was the motivation for performing the stimulation assays. Methanogenic biodegradation of alkanes is considered a hydrogen/ formate-dependent syntrophic process (Jim enez et al, 2016), and the presence of hydrogenotrophic methanogens in the hexadecene-degrading enrichment cultures developed by Schink (1985) suggests that this may be also the case for 1-hexadecene. We used a.…”

Section: Addition Of Hydrogenotrophic Methanogensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The microbiology and biochemistry of aliphatic hydrocarbons degradation under methanogenic conditions have been mainly studied with hexadecane as model compound, a saturated C 16 straight-chain hydrocarbon (Zengler et al, 1999;Jones et al, 2008;Siddique et al, 2012). Syntrophic bacteria assigned to Syntrophaceae were suggested to degrade hexadecane to acetate and hydrogen, which are consumed by methanogens (Gray et al, 2011;Embree et al, 2015;Jim enez et al, 2016;Wawrik et al, 2016). Although still not known, it is unlikely that these bacteria can degrade hexadecene, as the only two cultures described to degrade 1-hexadecene were not able to use hexadecane (Schink, 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhancement of methane production from 1‐hexadecene by additional electron donors

Paulo

Salvador

Alves

et al. 2017

Microbial Biotechnology

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Summary1‐Hexadecene‐contaminated wastewater is produced in oil refineries and can be treated in methanogenic bioreactors, although generally at low conversion rates. In this study, a microbial culture able to degrade 1‐hexadecene was enriched, and different stimulation strategies were tested for enhancing 1‐hexadecene conversion to methane. Seven and three times faster methane production was obtained in cultures stimulated with yeast extract or lactate, respectively, while cultures amended with crotonate lost the ability to degrade 1‐hexadecene. Methane production from 1‐hexadecene was not enhanced by the addition of extra hydrogenotrophic methanogens. Bacteria closely related to Syntrophus and Smithella were detected in 1‐hexadecene‐degrading cultures, but not in the ones amended with crotonate, which suggests the involvement of these bacteria in 1‐hexadecene degradation. Genes coding for alkylsuccinate synthase alpha‐subunit were detected in cultures degrading 1‐hexadecene, indicating that hydrocarbon activation may occur by fumarate addition. These findings are novel and show that methane production from 1‐hexadecene is improved by the addition of yeast extract or lactate. These extra electron donors may be considered as a potential bioremediation strategy of oil‐contaminated sites with bioenergy generation through methane production.

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“…Having been studied for decades, the ubiquitous presence of methanogenic biotransformation of residual hydrocarbons promotes them to be important roles in the process of hydrocarbon contaminants conversion and recovery (Head et al 2014). Despite increasing evidence that supports the potential of anaerobic microbial biodegradation of long-chain n-alkanes, the degradation of paraffinic n-alkanes is still considered challenging for microorganisms due to their insolubility at room temperature (Boll et al 2018;Jimenez et al 2016;Wilkes and Rabus 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-chain n-alkane biodegradation coupling to methane production in an enriched culture from production water of a high-temperature oil reservoir

et al. 2020

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Paraffinic n-alkanes (C22-C30), crucial portions of residual oil, are generally considered to be difficult to be biodegraded owing to their general solidity at ambient temperatures and low water solubility, rendering relatively little known about metabolic processes in different methanogenic hydrocarbon-contaminated environments. Here, we established a methanogenic C22-C30 n-alkane-degrading enrichment culture derived from a high-temperature oil reservoir production water. During two-year incubation (736 days), unexpectedly significant methane production was observed. The measured maximum methane yield rate (164.40 μmol L −1 d −1) occurred during the incubation period from day 351 to 513. The nearly complete consumption (> 97%) of paraffinic n-alkanes and the detection of dicarboxylic acids in n-alkane-amended cultures indicated the biotransformation of paraffin to methane under anoxic condition. 16S rRNA gene analysis suggested that the dominant methanogen in n-alkane-degrading cultures shifted from Methanothermobacter on day 322 to Thermoplasmatales on day 736. Bacterial community analysis based on high-throughput sequencing revealed that members of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes exhibiting predominant in control cultures, while microorganisms affiliated with Actinobacteria turned into the most dominant phylum in n-alkanedependent cultures. Additionally, the relative abundance of mcrA gene based on genomic DNA significantly increased over the incubation time, suggesting an important role of methanogens in these consortia. This work extends our understanding of methanogenic paraffinic n-alkanes conversion and has biotechnological implications for microbial enhanced recovery of residual hydrocarbons and effective bioremediation of hydrocarbon-containing biospheres.

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Methanogenic Hydrocarbon Degradation: Evidence from Field and Laboratory Studies

Cited by 46 publications

References 147 publications

Anaerobic Microbial Degradation of Hydrocarbons: From Enzymatic Reactions to the Environment

Anaerobic Microbial Degradation of Hydrocarbons: From Enzymatic Reactions to the Environment

Enhancement of methane production from 1‐hexadecene by additional electron donors

Long-chain n-alkane biodegradation coupling to methane production in an enriched culture from production water of a high-temperature oil reservoir

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