Deepwater Horizon Deep-Sea Oil Plume Succession

Community ID CommunityMech:000166

Ecological State PERTURBED

Environment deep marine hydrocarbon plume
ENVO:00002149

A natural, perturbed deep-sea hydrocarbon-plume microbial community that developed during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. The plume selected indigenous hydrocarbon-degrading Gammaproteobacteria, with early enrichment of Oceanospirillales-like petroleum degraders followed by Colwellia, Cycloclasticus, methylotrophic bacteria, and other taxa with non-redundant hydrocarbon degradation capacities.

Taxonomy

Taxon	Ontology ID	Functional Roles	Abundance
DWH Oceanospirillales-like bacteria	NCBITaxon:135619	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	DOMINANT
PMID:20736401 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "stimulated deep-sea indigenous γ-Proteobacteria that are closely related to known petroleum degraders" PMID:22616650 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "increase in abundance of Colwellia and Oceanospirillales during the incubations"
Colwellia	NCBITaxon:28228	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	ABUNDANT
PMID:22616650 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "Colwellia were the dominant bacteria in the flocs" PMID:25071745 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "Colwellia species that was dominant during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill"
Cycloclasticus	NCBITaxon:34067	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:27572965 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL) "enriched in the polycyclic-aromatic-hydrocarbon-degrading communities"
Methylophaga	NCBITaxon:40222	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:24865772 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "methylotrophs, including Methylophaga, were in a heightened state of metabolic activity within oil plume waters"
Marinobacter	NCBITaxon:2742	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:27572965 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL) "Marinobacter was enriched with n-hexadecane"

Ecological Interactions

Taxon

Cross-feeding

Mutualism

Syntrophy

Competition

Commensalism

Niche partitioning

Colonization facilitation

Strain competition

Predation

Intrinsic Hydrocarbon Bioremediation

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: DWH Oceanospirillales-like bacteria

Metabolites: hydrocarbon (CHEBI:24632), dioxygen (CHEBI:15379)

Biological Processes:

alkane catabolic process (GO:0043448)

Evidence

PMID:20736401 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)

"faster-than-expected hydrocarbon biodegradation rates at 5°C"
PMID:20736401 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)

"intrinsic bioremediation of the oil plume in the deep-water column without substantial oxygen drawdown"

Colwellia Oil Droplet Floc Formation

COLONIZATION_FACILITATION

Source Taxon: Colwellia

Metabolites: hydrocarbon (CHEBI:24632)

Evidence

PMID:22616650 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)

"flocs were comprised of oil, carbohydrates and biomass"
PMID:22616650 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)

"Colwellia were the dominant bacteria in the flocs"

Complex Hydrocarbon Substrate Partitioning

NICHE_PARTITIONING

Metabolites: hydrocarbon (CHEBI:24632), alkane (CHEBI:18310)

Biological Processes:

alkane catabolic process (GO:0043448)

Evidence

PMID:27572965 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)

"combined capabilities of the microbial community exceeded those of its individual components"
PMID:27572965 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)

"degradation of complex hydrocarbon mixtures requires the non-redundant capabilities of a complex oil-degrading community"

Associated Datasets

Dataset	Type	Repository	Accession
Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon-degrader genome reconstructions Genome-resolved stable-isotope-probing study reconstructing hydrocarbon-degradation pathways from DWH sea-surface and deep-plume enrichment communities.	GENOME	OTHER	NatMicrobiol-2016-DWH-genome-reconstruction

External Resources

Name	Repository	Resource ID
Exact-system publication - DWH deep-sea oil plume bacteria Primary field study reporting indigenous deep-sea oil-degrading bacteria enriched in the Deepwater Horizon plume.	OTHER	PMID:20736401
PMID:20736401 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "Deep-sea oil plume enriches indigenous oil-degrading bacteria"
Exact-system publication - oil and dispersant enrichment Cold Gulf deep-water enrichment study with MC252 oil and COREXIT showing Colwellia and Oceanospirillales succession.	OTHER	PMID:22616650
PMID:22616650 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "Deep-sea bacteria enriched by oil and dispersant from the Deepwater Horizon spill"
Exact-system publication - methylotroph role in DWH plume Review and synthesis of Methylophaga and other methylotroph activity in DWH oil plume waters.	OTHER	PMID:24865772
PMID:24865772 - SUPPORT (REVIEW) "Role of methylotrophs in the degradation of hydrocarbons during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill"
Exact-system publication - DWH hydrocarbon pathway reconstruction Genome-resolved reconstruction of DWH hydrocarbon-degradation pathways and community substrate specialization.	OTHER	PMID:27572965
PMID:27572965 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL) "Reconstructing metabolic pathways of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill"

Environmental Factors

Factor	Value	Unit
Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon plume	Deepwater Horizon blowout, Gulf of Mexico	N/A
PMID:20736401 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "dispersed hydrocarbon plume stimulated deep-sea indigenous γ-Proteobacteria"
Low deep-water temperature	5	degrees Celsius
PMID:20736401 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO) "hydrocarbon biodegradation rates at 5°C" PMID:22616650 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "incubation at 5°C"
Oil and dispersant exposure		N/A
PMID:22616650 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "enriched and isolated indigenous hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria from deep, uncontaminated waters"