Long-Term Dynamics of Microbial Communities in a High-Permeable Petroleum Reservoir Reveals the Spatiotemporal Relationship between Community and Oil Recovery

To assess the dynamics of microbial communities in a petroleum reservoir during microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR), injected and produced fluids from multiple wells were monitored using molecular microbial methods over 20 months. In this highly permeable (1.5–2.5 μm²) and high-temperature (65 °C) reservoir, communities contain phyla Euryarchaeota, Proteobacteria, Deferribacteres, and Firmicutes, which may be collected by flooding fluids from different habitats through strata. Since the oil-rich areas in the flooded reservoir generally gather around oil wells with high temperatures and strictly anaerobic conditions, the dominance of thermophilic and anaerobic microorganisms, which are capable of inhabiting oil-rich areas, is consistent with positive oil-output responses (temporarily enhanced by 5 × 10³ kg per day). During later periods, the communities were dominated by <i>Enterobacter</i> without high-temperature adaptability, which corresponds to a considerable decline in oil-output. Meanwhile, an abnormal increase of community similarity, acetate, and cell concentrations in produced fluids simultaneously indicated a severe enhancement of reservoir permeability along the flooding route, which reveals the direct reason for the community shift and the oil output decline. Therefore, an understanding of the long-term dynamics of reservoir communities is essential for distinguishing functional species and to establish a reservoir-scale connection between microbiology and porous flow

Data_Sheet_1_Carbon and hydrogen stable isotope fractionation due to monooxygenation of short-chain alkanes by butane monooxygenase of Thauera butanivorans Bu-B1211.PDF

Multi element compound-specific stable isotope analysis (ME-CSIA) is a tool to assess (bio)chemical reactions of molecules in the environment based on their isotopic fingerprints. To that effect, ME-CSIA concepts are initially developed with laboratory model experiments to determine the isotope fractionation factors specific for distinct (bio)chemical reactions. Here, we determined for the first time the carbon and hydrogen isotope fractionation factors for the monooxygenation of the short-chain alkanes ethane, propane, and butane. As model organism we used Thauera butanivorans strain Bu-B1211 which employs a non-haem iron monooxygenase (butane monooxygenase) to activate alkanes. Monooxygenation of alkanes was associated with strong carbon and hydrogen isotope effects: εbulkC = −2.95 ± 0.5 ‰ for ethane, −2.68 ± 0.1 ‰ for propane, −1.19 ± 0.18 ‰ for butane; εbulkH = −56.3 ± 15 ‰ for ethane, −40.5 ± 2.3 ‰ for propane, −14.6 ± 3.6 ‰ for butane. This resulted in lambda (Λ ≈ εHbulk/εCbulk) values of 16.2 ± 3.7 for ethane, 13.2 ± 0.7 for propane, and 11.4 ± 2.8 for butane. The results show that ME-CSIA can be used to track the occurrence and impact of monooxygenase-dependent aerobic processes converting short-chain alkanes in natural settings like marine and terrestrial seeps, gas reservoirs, and other geological formations impacted by natural gas.</p

Additional file 1 of H2O2 self-supplying and GSH-depleting nanosystem for amplified NIR mediated-chemodynamic therapy of MRSA biofilm-associated infections

Supplementary Material

Hydrated Silica Exterior Produced by Biomimetic Silicification Confers Viral Vaccine Heat-Resistance

Heat-lability is a key roadblock that strangles the widespread applications of many biological products. In nature, archaeal and extremophilic organisms utilize amorphous silica as a protective biomineral and exhibit considerable thermal tolerance. Here we present a bioinspired approach to generate thermostable virus by introducing an artificial hydrated silica exterior on individual virion. Similar to thermophiles, silicified viruses can survive longer at high temperature than their wild-type relatives. Virus inactivation assays showed that silica hydration exterior of the modified virus effectively prolonged infectivity of viruses by ∼10-fold at room temperature, achieving a similar result as that obtained by storing native ones at 4 °C. Mechanistic studies indicate that amorphous silica nanoclusters stabilize the inner virion structure by forming a layer that restricts molecular mobility, acting as physiochemical nanoanchors. Notably, we further evaluate the potential application of this biomimetic strategy in stabilizing clinically approved vaccine, and the silicified polio vaccine that can retain 90% potency after the storage at room temperature for 35 days was generated by this biosilicification approach and validated with <i>in vivo</i> experiments. This approach not only biomimetically connects inorganic material and living virus but also provides an innovative resolution to improve the thermal stability of biological agents using nanomaterials