title: Evaluating robustness of a diesel-degrading bacterial consortium isolated from contaminated soil.
abstract: It is not known whether diesel-degrading bacterial communities are structurally and functionally robust when exposed to different hydrocarbon types. Here, we exposed a diesel-degrading consortium to model either alkanes, cycloalkanes or aromatic hydrocarbons as carbon sources to study its structural resistance. The structural resistance was low, with changes in relative abundances of up to four orders of magnitude, depending on hydrocarbon type and bacterial taxon. This low resistance is explained by the presence of hydrocarbon-degrading specialists in the consortium and differences in growth kinetics on individual hydrocarbons. However, despite this low resistance, structural and functional resilience were high, as verified by re-exposing the hydrocarbon-perturbed consortium to diesel fuel. The high resilience is either due to the short exposure time, insufficient for permanent changes in consortium structure and function, or the ability of some consortium members to be maintained during exposure on degradation intermediates produced by other members. Thus, the consortium is expected to cope with short-term exposures to narrow carbon feeds, while maintaining its structural and functional integrity, which remains an advantage over biodegradation approaches using single species cultures.
authors: Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Berdychowo 4, 60-965 Poznań, Poland. Electronic address: mateusz.sydow@gmail.com.
authors: Mateusz
authors: M
authors: Sydow
authors: Division for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Management Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Produktionstorvet, Building 424, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors: Mikołaj
authors: M
authors: Owsianiak
authors: Institute of Food Technology of Plant Origin, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 31, 60-624 Poznań, Poland.
authors: Zuzanna
authors: Z
authors: Szczepaniak
authors: Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Noskowskiego 12/14, 61-704 Poznań, Poland.
authors: Grzegorz
authors: G
authors: Framski
authors: Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej, Building 113, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
authors: Barth F
authors: BF
authors: Smets
authors: Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Berdychowo 4, 60-965 Poznań, Poland.
authors: Łukasz
authors: Ł
authors: Ławniczak
authors: Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Berdychowo 4, 60-965 Poznań, Poland.
authors: Piotr
authors: P
authors: Lisiecki
authors: Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Berdychowo 4, 60-965 Poznań, Poland.
authors: Alicja
authors: A
authors: Szulc
authors: Department of Biotechnology and Food Microbiology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 48, 60-627 Poznań, Poland.
authors: Paweł
authors: P
authors: Cyplik
authors: Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Berdychowo 4, 60-965 Poznań, Poland.
authors: Łukasz
authors: Ł
authors: Chrzanowski
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001709:Biotechnology; D005742:Gasoline / Q000032:analysis; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism; D059013:Microbial Consortia / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005742:Gasoline; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Biodegradation; Community dynamics; Hydrocarbon; Resilience; Robustness