11 research outputs found
The fate of triclocarban in activated sludge and its influence on biological wastewater treatment system
Identifying Bioaccumulative Halogenated Organic Compounds Using a Nontargeted Analytical Approach: Seabirds as Sentinels
Gestational bisphenol A exposure induces fatty liver development in male offspring mice through the inhibition of HNF1b and upregulation of PPARÎł
Ulkan-Dzhugdzhur ore-bearing anorthosite-rapakivi granite-peralkaline granite association, Siberian Craton: Age, tectonic setting, sources, and metallogeny
Beyond nC60: strategies for identification of transformation products of fullerene oxidation in aquatic and biological samples
Prokaryotic Hydrocarbon Degraders
Hydrocarbons have been part of the biosphere for millions of years, and a diverse group of prokaryotes has evolved to use them as a source of carbon and energy. To date, the vast majority of formally defined genera are eubacterial, in 7 of the 24 major phyla currently formally recognized by taxonomists (Tree of Life, http://tolweb.org/Eubacteria. Accessed 1 Sept 2017, 2017); principally in the Actinobacteria, the Bacteroidetes, the Firmicutes, and the Proteobacteria. Some Cyanobacteria have been shown to degrade hydrocarbons on a limited scale, but whether this is of any ecological significance remains to be seen – it is likely that all aerobic organisms show some basal metabolism of hydrocarbons by nonspecific oxygenases, and similar “universal” metabolism may occur in anaerobes. This chapter focuses on the now quite large number of named microbial genera where there is reasonably convincing evidence for hydrocarbon metabolism. We have found more than 320 genera of Eubacteria, and 12 genera of Archaea. Molecular methods are revealing a vastly greater diversity of currently uncultured organisms – Hug et al. (Nat Microbiol 1:16048, 2016) claim 92 named bacterial phyla, many with almost totally unknown physiology – and it seems reasonable to believe that the catalog of genera reported here will be substantially expanded in the future