title: Diversity of crude oil-degrading bacteria and alkane hydroxylase (alkB) genes from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
abstract: The aim of this study was to survey the response of the microbial community to crude oil and the diversity of alkane hydroxylase (alkB) genes in soil samples from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). The enrichment cultures and clone libraries were used. Finally, 53 isolates and 94 alkB sequences were obtained from 10 pristine soil samples after enrichment at 10 °C with crude oil as sole carbon source. The isolates fell into the phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, with the dominance of Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter. The composition of degraders was different from polar habitats where Acinetobacter sp. is not a predominant responder of alkane degradative microbial communities. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the alkB genes from isolates and enrichment communities formed eight clusters and mainly related with alkB genes of Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus, and Acinetobacter. The alkB gene diversity in the QTP was lower than marine environments and polar soil samples. In particular, a total of 10 isolates exhibiting vigorous growth with crude oil could detect no crude oil degradation-related gene sequences, such as alkB, P450, almA, ndoB, and xylE genes. The Shannon-Wiener index of the alkB clone libraries from the QTP ranged from 1.00 to 2.24 which is similar with polar pristine soil samples but lower than that of contaminated soils. These results indicated that the Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Rhodococcus genera are the candidate for in situ bioremediation, and the environment of QTP may be still relatively uncontaminated by crude oil.
authors.affiliation: College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330045, China.|Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Haozhi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330045, China.
authors.forename: Yilin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Sijing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China. liugx@lzb.ac.cn.|Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China. liugx@lzb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Guangxiu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China. chentuo@lzb.ac.cn.|State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China. chentuo@lzb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Tuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330045, China.
authors.forename: Guanghua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xiukun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xisheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Likun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Baogui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D042926:Cytochrome P-450 CYP4A / Q000235:genetics*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D010578:Petroleum; D010802:Phylogeny; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D018609:Tibet
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D042926:Cytochrome P-450 CYP4A
keywords: Alkane hydrolase gene; Crude oil enrichment; Diversity; Qinghai-Tibet Plateau