Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic
A notable feature of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the unprecedented formation of marine oil snow (MOS) that was observed in large quantities floating on the sea surface and that subsequently sedimented to the seafloor. Whilst the physical and chemical processes involved in MOS formation rem...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2019
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103767 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48037 |
| _version_ | 1824454131033571328 |
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| author | Suja, Laura Duran Chen, Xindi Summers, Stephen Paterson, David M. Gutierrez, Tony |
| author2 | Heriot-Watt University |
| author_facet | Heriot-Watt University Suja, Laura Duran Chen, Xindi Summers, Stephen Paterson, David M. Gutierrez, Tony |
| author_sort | Suja, Laura Duran |
| collection | NTU |
| description | A notable feature of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the unprecedented formation of marine oil snow (MOS) that was observed
in large quantities floating on the sea surface and that subsequently sedimented to the seafloor. Whilst the physical and chemical
processes involved in MOS formation remain unclear, some studies have shown that extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play a
role in this process. Here, we report that during exposure of subarctic northeast Atlantic seawater to a chemical dispersant,
whether in the presence/absence of crude oil, the dispersant stimulates the production of significant quantities of EPS that we
posit serves as a key building block in the formation of MOS. This response is likely conferred via de-novo synthesis of EPS by
natural communities of bacteria. We also describe the formation of marine dispersant snow (MDS) as a product of adding chemical
dispersants to seawater. Differential staining confirmed that MDS, like MOS, is composed of glycoprotein, though MDS is more
protein rich. Using barcoded-amplicon Illumina MiSeq sequencing, we analyzed, for the first time, the bacterial communities
associated with MDS and report that their diversity is not significantly dissimilar to those associated with MOS aggregates. Our
findings emphasize the need to conduct further work on the effects of dispersants when applied to oil spills at sea, particularly at
different sites, and to determine how the product of this (i.e. MOS and MDS) affects the biodegradation of the oil. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:17:26Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/103767 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:17:26Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1037672020-09-21T11:35:53Z Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic Suja, Laura Duran Chen, Xindi Summers, Stephen Paterson, David M. Gutierrez, Tony Heriot-Watt University University of St Andrews Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences and Engineering Marine Oil Snow (MOS) Marine Dispersant Snow (MDS) DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Ecology A notable feature of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the unprecedented formation of marine oil snow (MOS) that was observed in large quantities floating on the sea surface and that subsequently sedimented to the seafloor. Whilst the physical and chemical processes involved in MOS formation remain unclear, some studies have shown that extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play a role in this process. Here, we report that during exposure of subarctic northeast Atlantic seawater to a chemical dispersant, whether in the presence/absence of crude oil, the dispersant stimulates the production of significant quantities of EPS that we posit serves as a key building block in the formation of MOS. This response is likely conferred via de-novo synthesis of EPS by natural communities of bacteria. We also describe the formation of marine dispersant snow (MDS) as a product of adding chemical dispersants to seawater. Differential staining confirmed that MDS, like MOS, is composed of glycoprotein, though MDS is more protein rich. Using barcoded-amplicon Illumina MiSeq sequencing, we analyzed, for the first time, the bacterial communities associated with MDS and report that their diversity is not significantly dissimilar to those associated with MOS aggregates. Our findings emphasize the need to conduct further work on the effects of dispersants when applied to oil spills at sea, particularly at different sites, and to determine how the product of this (i.e. MOS and MDS) affects the biodegradation of the oil. Published version 2019-04-17T02:26:44Z 2019-12-06T21:19:46Z 2019-04-17T02:26:44Z 2019-12-06T21:19:46Z 2019 Journal Article Suja, L. D., Chen, X., Summers, S., Paterson, D. M., & Gutierrez, T. (2019). Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10:553. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00553 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103767 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48037 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00553 en Frontiers in Microbiology © 2019 Suja, Chen, Summers, Paterson and Gutierrez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. 13 p. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Marine Oil Snow (MOS) Marine Dispersant Snow (MDS) DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Ecology Suja, Laura Duran Chen, Xindi Summers, Stephen Paterson, David M. Gutierrez, Tony Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic |
| title | Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic |
| title_full | Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic |
| title_fullStr | Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic |
| title_short | Chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer (EPS) production and formation of marine oil/dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast Atlantic |
| title_sort | chemical dispersant enhances microbial exopolymer eps production and formation of marine oil dispersant snow in surface waters of the subarctic northeast atlantic |
| topic | Marine Oil Snow (MOS) Marine Dispersant Snow (MDS) DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Ecology |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103767 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48037 |
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