Cultivation-independent methods applied to the microbial prospection of oil and gas in soil from a sedimentary basin in Brazil

The upper parts of oil field structures may leak gas which is supposed to be indirectly detected by the soil bacterial populations. Such microorganisms are capable of consuming this gas, supporting the Microbial Prospection of Oil and Gas (MPOG) methodology. The goal of the present work was to characterize microbial communities involved in short-chain alkane metabolism, namely methane, ethane and propane, in samples from a petroliferous (P) soil through clone libraries of the 16S rRNA gene of the Domains Bacteria and Archaea and the catabolic gene coding for the soluble di-iron monooxygenase (SDIMO) enzyme alpha subunit. The microbial community presented high abundance of the bacterial phylum Actinobacteria, which represented 53% of total clones, and the Crenarchaeota group I.1b from the Archaea Domain. The analysis of the catabolic genes revealed the occurrence of seven Operational Protein Families (OPF) and higher richness (Chao = 7; Ace = 7.5) and diversity (Shannon = 1.09) in P soil when compared with a non-petroliferous (Np) soil (Chao = 2; Ace = 0, Shannon = 0.44). Clones related to the ethene monooxygenase (EtnC) and methane monooxygenase (MmoX) coding genes occurred only in P soil, which also presented higher levels of methane and lower levels of ethane and propane, revealed by short-chain hydrocarbon measures. Real-time PCR results suggested that the SDIMO genes occur in very low abundance in the soil samples under study. Further investigations on SDIMOs genes in natural environments are necessary to unravel their still uncharted diversity and to provide reliable tools for the prospection of degrading populations

Searching For Monooxygenases And Hydrolases In Bacteria From An Extreme Environment.

Microbial oxidation potentials of extremophiles recovered from Pampo Sul oil field, Campos Basin, Brazil, in pure culture or in consortia, were investigated using high-throughput screening (HTS) and multibioreactions. Camphor (1), cis-jasmone (2), 2-methyl-cyclohexanone (3), 1,2-epoxyoctane (4), phenylethyl acetate (5), phenylethyl propionate (6), and phenylethyl octanoate (7) were used to perform multibioreaction assays. Eighty-two bacterial isolates were recovered from oil and formation water samples and those presenting outstanding activities in HTS assays were identified by sequencing their 16S rRNA genes. These results revealed that most microorganisms belonged to the genus Bacillus and presented alcohol dehydrogenase, monooxygenase, epoxide hydrolase, esterase, and lipase activities.87319-2

Searching for monooxygenases and hydrolases in bacteria from an extreme environment

Microbial oxidation potentials of extremophiles recovered from Pampo Sul oil field, Campos Basin, Brazil, in pure culture or in consortia, were investigated using high-throughput screening (HTS) and multibioreactions. Camphor (1), cis-jasmone (2), 2-methyl-cyclohexanone (3), 1,2-epoxyoctane (4), phenylethyl acetate (5), phenylethyl propionate (6), and phenylethyl octanoate (7) were used to perform multibioreaction assays. Eighty-two bacterial isolates were recovered from oil and formation water samples and those presenting outstanding activities in HTS assays were identified by sequencing their 16S rRNA genes. These results revealed that most microorganisms belonged to the genus Bacillus and presented alcohol dehydrogenase, monooxygenase, epoxide hydrolase, esterase, and lipase activities

Água salina nos atributos químicos do solo e no estado nutricional da mandioqueira Saline water on chemical properties of soil and nutritional status of Cassava

O objetivo do presente trabalho foi verificar a influência do uso de água salina nos atributos químicos do solo e no estado nutricional da mandioqueira. O trabalho foi conduzido na área experimental de Irrigação e Drenagem do IF Baiano, Campus de Senhor do Bonfim, BA (10o 28’S, 40o 11’W e 550 m). O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado constando de sete tratamentos e três repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram de uma testemunha (sequeiro), um tratamento irrigado com água potável (100% da ETc) e cinco tratamentos irrigados com água salina com CE de 3 dS m-1 variando as lâminas aplicadas: 110, 120, 130, 140 e 150% da ETc. O uso de água salina aumentou a percentagem de sódio trocável, a razão de adsorção de sódio e a condutividade elétrica do solo, tanto na 0-0,20 como na 0,20-0,40 m de profundidade. Quanto ao estado nutricional foliar da mandioqueira, os tratamentos influenciaram apenas nos teores de cálcio, magnésio e cloro.<br>The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of saline water on chemical properties of the soil and nutritional attributes of cassava. The work was conducted in the area of Irrigation and Drainage of IF Baiano, Campus de Senhor do Bonfim, BA (10° 28’S, 40° 11’W and 550 m). The experimental design was completely randomized, consisting of seven treatments and three replicates. The treatments consisted of control (rainfed), a treatment irrigated with drinking water (100% of ETc) and five treatments irrigated with saline water of 3 dS m-1 with varying water depths: 110, 120, 130, 140 and 150% of ETc. The use of saline water increased the exchangeable sodium percentage, the sodium adsortion ratio and the electrical conductivity of the soil in both 0-0.20 and 0.20-0.40 m dephts. Regarding the leaf nutritional status of cassava, the treatments influenced only the contents of calcium, magnesium and chlorine