Aerobic biofilms grown from Athabasca watershed sediments are inhibited by increasing concentrations of bituminous compounds
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 conc...
Published in: | Applied and Environmental Microbiology |
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Language: | English |
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2013
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02216-13 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/accepted/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 |
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ftnrccanada:oai:cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.ca:cistinparc:21269573 2023-05-15T15:26:00+02:00 Aerobic biofilms grown from Athabasca watershed sediments are inhibited by increasing concentrations of bituminous compounds Yergeau, Étienne Lawrence, John R. Sanschagrin, Sylvie Roy, Julie L. Swerhone, George D. W. Korber, Darren R. Greer, Charles W. 2013-09-20 text https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02216-13 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/accepted/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 eng eng issn:0099-2240 Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume: 79, Issue: 23, Publication date: 2013-09-20, Pages: 7398–7412 doi:10.1128/AEM.02216-13 Athabasca River Biofilms Next-generation sequencing Oil sands Sediments article 2013 ftnrccanada https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02216-13 2021-09-01T06:33:33Z 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 μm2, 68% less cyanobacterial biomass per μm2, 64% less algal biomass per μm2, 13% fewer protozoa per cm2, were 21% less productive, and had a 33% reduced content in chlorophyll a per mm2 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. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes Article in Journal/Newspaper Athabasca River National Research Council Canada: NRC Publications Archive Athabasca River Applied and Environmental Microbiology 79 23 7398 7412 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
National Research Council Canada: NRC Publications Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnrccanada |
language |
English |
topic |
Athabasca River Biofilms Next-generation sequencing Oil sands Sediments |
spellingShingle |
Athabasca River Biofilms Next-generation sequencing Oil sands Sediments Yergeau, Étienne 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 |
topic_facet |
Athabasca River Biofilms Next-generation sequencing Oil sands Sediments |
description |
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 μm2, 68% less cyanobacterial biomass per μm2, 64% less algal biomass per μm2, 13% fewer protozoa per cm2, were 21% less productive, and had a 33% reduced content in chlorophyll a per mm2 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. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yergeau, Étienne Lawrence, John R. Sanschagrin, Sylvie Roy, Julie L. Swerhone, George D. W. Korber, Darren R. Greer, Charles W. |
author_facet |
Yergeau, Étienne Lawrence, John R. Sanschagrin, Sylvie Roy, Julie L. Swerhone, George D. W. Korber, Darren R. Greer, Charles W. |
author_sort |
Yergeau, Étienne |
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 |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02216-13 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/accepted/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=a8e46933-9fc0-4680-b2f6-d44edc681e09 |
geographic |
Athabasca River |
geographic_facet |
Athabasca River |
genre |
Athabasca River |
genre_facet |
Athabasca River |
op_relation |
issn:0099-2240 Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Volume: 79, Issue: 23, Publication date: 2013-09-20, Pages: 7398–7412 doi:10.1128/AEM.02216-13 |
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 |
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1766356580275585024 |