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Gulf of Mexico Oil-Degrading Consortium

Community ID CommunityMech:000030
Ecological State STABLE
Environment marine environment
ENVO:00002149

A marine bacterial consortium from the Gulf of Mexico designed for bioremediation of oil-contaminated seawater. The consortium consists of four bacteria: Pseudomonas sp., Halopseudomonas aestusnigri GOM5, Paenarthrobacter sp. GOM3, and Alcanivorax sp. Together, they achieve 62% oil removal over 75 days, degrading both n-alkanes and 12 polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including fluorene, dibenzothiophene, phenanthrenes, and pyrene. The consortium exhibits stable population dynamics with distributed metabolic loads across members.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
Pseudomonas sp. GOM NCBITaxon:306
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
DOMINANT
Halopseudomonas aestusnigri GOM5 NCBITaxon:857252
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
DOMINANT
Paenarthrobacter sp. GOM3 NCBITaxon:2782567
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
DOMINANT
Alcanivorax sp. GOM NCBITaxon:1872427
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
DOMINANT

Ecological Interactions

Ecological interaction network for Gulf of Mexico Oil-Degrading Consortium Bipartite graph where circle nodes represent taxa and colored rectangles represent ecological interactions (cross-feeding, mutualism, syntrophy, competition, commensalism).
Taxon
Cross-feeding
Mutualism
Syntrophy
Competition
Commensalism

Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Degradation

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: Alcanivorax sp. GOM

Target Taxon: Halopseudomonas aestusnigri GOM5

Metabolites: alkane (CHEBI:18310), dodecane (CHEBI:16968)

Biological Processes:

Downstream Effects:
→ Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Degradation

Evidence

  • doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.962071 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "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"

Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Degradation

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: Pseudomonas sp. GOM

Target Taxon: Paenarthrobacter sp. GOM3

Metabolites: fluorene (CHEBI:33083), dibenzothiophene (CHEBI:4551), phenanthrene (CHEBI:39310), pyrene (CHEBI:39106)

Biological Processes:

  • aromatic compound catabolic process (GO:0019439)

Evidence

  • doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.962071 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "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"

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
Oil removal efficiency 62% (consortium) vs 39% (individual) N/A
Population dynamics stable N/A
Marine origin Gulf of Mexico N/A
Bioremediation application oil spill cleanup N/A