TY - JOUR
T1 - Contrasting sensitivity among oligotrophic marine microbial communities to priority PAHs.
AU - Ashok, Ananya
AU - Agusti, Susana
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-10-13
Acknowledgements: This research was funded by baseline funding to Susana Agusti from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). We also thank the KAUST Core Laboratories for their participation in the analysis of the PAHs in seawater. Moreover, we thank the members of the Biological Oceanography Lab, namely Daffne Lopez-Sandoval, Gala Gonazalez, Reny Devassy, Chunzi Cai, Afrah Alothman, Sreejith Kottuparambil, and especially, Francisco L. Aparicio-Bernat for the invaluable help extended with the experiments. We also thank the CMOR SeaLABS Facility and the R/V Thuwal crew for their support during the cruise and experiments.
PY - 2022/10/3
Y1 - 2022/10/3
N2 - Oligotrophic areas represent a large proportion of the oceans, wherein microbial food webs largely determine carbon flux dynamics and biogeochemical cycles. However, little is known regarding the sensitivity of microbial planktonic communities to pollutants in such areas. Organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH/s) are toxic oil derivatives that occur as complex mixtures and reach marine environments through different sources. Therefore, our study analyzed the PAH tolerance of natural photosynthetic and heterotrophic bacteria and eukaryotes from the oligotrophic Red Sea, which is uniquely susceptible to high oil contamination. Natural communities sampled from the surface layer were exposed to a concentration gradient of a mixture of 16 priority PAHs at in situ conditions for 48 h. The populations of the dominant picocyanobacteria Synechococcus sp., picophytoeukaryotes, and low nucleic acid (LNA) bacteria decreased upon exposure to PAHs in a strong dose-dependent manner. Chlorophyll-a, which was measured as an indicator of the total autotrophic community response, also decreased substantially. High nucleic acid (HNA) bacteria, however, exhibited lower growth inhibition (
AB - Oligotrophic areas represent a large proportion of the oceans, wherein microbial food webs largely determine carbon flux dynamics and biogeochemical cycles. However, little is known regarding the sensitivity of microbial planktonic communities to pollutants in such areas. Organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH/s) are toxic oil derivatives that occur as complex mixtures and reach marine environments through different sources. Therefore, our study analyzed the PAH tolerance of natural photosynthetic and heterotrophic bacteria and eukaryotes from the oligotrophic Red Sea, which is uniquely susceptible to high oil contamination. Natural communities sampled from the surface layer were exposed to a concentration gradient of a mixture of 16 priority PAHs at in situ conditions for 48 h. The populations of the dominant picocyanobacteria Synechococcus sp., picophytoeukaryotes, and low nucleic acid (LNA) bacteria decreased upon exposure to PAHs in a strong dose-dependent manner. Chlorophyll-a, which was measured as an indicator of the total autotrophic community response, also decreased substantially. High nucleic acid (HNA) bacteria, however, exhibited lower growth inhibition (
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/682454
UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0045653522029836
U2 - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136490
DO - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136490
M3 - Article
C2 - 36210574
SN - 0045-6535
VL - 309
SP - 136490
JO - Chemosphere
JF - Chemosphere
ER -