Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds
ABSTRACT Sediments from the Athabasca River and its tributaries naturally contain bitumen at various concentrations, but the impacts of this variation on the ecology of the river are unknown. Here, we used controlled rotating biofilm reactors in which we recirculated diluted sediments containing var...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.02216-13 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.02216-13 |
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crasmicro:10.1128/aem.02216-13 2024-09-15T17:55:11+00:00 Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds Yergeau, Etienne Lawrence, John R. Sanschagrin, Sylvie Roy, Julie L. Swerhone, George D. W. Korber, Darren R. Greer, Charles W. 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.02216-13 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.02216-13 en eng American Society for Microbiology https://journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license Applied and Environmental Microbiology volume 79, issue 23, page 7398-7412 ISSN 0099-2240 1098-5336 journal-article 2013 crasmicro https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02216-13 2024-08-26T04:06:48Z ABSTRACT Sediments from the Athabasca River and its tributaries naturally contain bitumen at various concentrations, but the impacts of this variation on the ecology of the river are unknown. Here, we used controlled rotating biofilm reactors in which we recirculated diluted sediments containing various concentrations of bituminous compounds taken from the Athabasca River and three tributaries. Biofilms exposed to sediments having low and high concentrations of bituminous compounds were compared. The latter were 29% thinner, had a different extracellular polysaccharide composition, 67% less bacterial biomass per μm 2 , 68% less cyanobacterial biomass per μm 2 , 64% less algal biomass per μm 2 , 13% fewer protozoa per cm 2 , were 21% less productive, and had a 33% reduced content in chlorophyll a per mm 2 and a 20% reduction in the expression of photosynthetic genes, but they had a 23% increase in the expression of aromatic hydrocarbon degradation genes. Within the Bacteria , differences in community composition were also observed, with relatively more Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria and less Cyanobacteria , Bacteroidetes , and Firmicutes in biofilms exposed to high concentrations of bituminous compounds. Altogether, our results suggest that biofilms that develop in the presence of higher concentrations of bituminous compounds are less productive and have lower biomass, linked to a decrease in the activities and abundance of photosynthetic organisms likely due to inhibitory effects. However, within this general inhibition, some specific microbial taxa and functional genes are stimulated because they are less sensitive to the inhibitory effects of bituminous compounds or can degrade and utilize some bitumen-associated compounds. Article in Journal/Newspaper Athabasca River ASM Journals (American Society for Microbiology) Applied and Environmental Microbiology 79 23 7398 7412 |
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ASM Journals (American Society for Microbiology) |
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English |
description |
ABSTRACT Sediments from the Athabasca River and its tributaries naturally contain bitumen at various concentrations, but the impacts of this variation on the ecology of the river are unknown. Here, we used controlled rotating biofilm reactors in which we recirculated diluted sediments containing various concentrations of bituminous compounds taken from the Athabasca River and three tributaries. Biofilms exposed to sediments having low and high concentrations of bituminous compounds were compared. The latter were 29% thinner, had a different extracellular polysaccharide composition, 67% less bacterial biomass per μm 2 , 68% less cyanobacterial biomass per μm 2 , 64% less algal biomass per μm 2 , 13% fewer protozoa per cm 2 , were 21% less productive, and had a 33% reduced content in chlorophyll a per mm 2 and a 20% reduction in the expression of photosynthetic genes, but they had a 23% increase in the expression of aromatic hydrocarbon degradation genes. Within the Bacteria , differences in community composition were also observed, with relatively more Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria and less Cyanobacteria , Bacteroidetes , and Firmicutes in biofilms exposed to high concentrations of bituminous compounds. Altogether, our results suggest that biofilms that develop in the presence of higher concentrations of bituminous compounds are less productive and have lower biomass, linked to a decrease in the activities and abundance of photosynthetic organisms likely due to inhibitory effects. However, within this general inhibition, some specific microbial taxa and functional genes are stimulated because they are less sensitive to the inhibitory effects of bituminous compounds or can degrade and utilize some bitumen-associated compounds. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yergeau, Etienne Lawrence, John R. Sanschagrin, Sylvie Roy, Julie L. Swerhone, George D. W. Korber, Darren R. Greer, Charles W. |
spellingShingle |
Yergeau, Etienne Lawrence, John R. Sanschagrin, Sylvie Roy, Julie L. Swerhone, George D. W. Korber, Darren R. Greer, Charles W. Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds |
author_facet |
Yergeau, Etienne Lawrence, John R. Sanschagrin, Sylvie Roy, Julie L. Swerhone, George D. W. Korber, Darren R. Greer, Charles W. |
author_sort |
Yergeau, Etienne |
title |
Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds |
title_short |
Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds |
title_full |
Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds |
title_fullStr |
Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Aerobic Biofilms Grown from Athabasca Watershed Sediments Are Inhibited by Increasing Concentrations of Bituminous Compounds |
title_sort |
aerobic biofilms grown from athabasca watershed sediments are inhibited by increasing concentrations of bituminous compounds |
publisher |
American Society for Microbiology |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.02216-13 https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.02216-13 |
genre |
Athabasca River |
genre_facet |
Athabasca River |
op_source |
Applied and Environmental Microbiology volume 79, issue 23, page 7398-7412 ISSN 0099-2240 1098-5336 |
op_rights |
https://journals.asm.org/non-commercial-tdm-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02216-13 |
container_title |
Applied and Environmental Microbiology |
container_volume |
79 |
container_issue |
23 |
container_start_page |
7398 |
op_container_end_page |
7412 |
_version_ |
1810431507062325248 |