Dominant Indigenous Bacteria in Gasoline-Treated Marshes Around Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

Gupta, Astha; Yu, Kewei; Park, Joong-Wook

Dominant Indigenous Bacteria in Gasoline-Treated Marshes Around Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

2014

Gupta, Astha | Yu, Kewei | Park, Joong-Wook

Considerable amount of gasoline from natural and anthropogenic sources, such as urban runoff during hurricanes and oil discharges from pleasure crafts, has been released into Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, which poses a threat to the lake marsh ecosystems. In this research, we evaluated the impact of gasoline on indigenous bacterial communities in three types of marsh sediments collected from the Lake Pontchartrain. Our data show that several bacterial species are significantly enriched in gasoline-treated sediments. DNA sequencing data indicate that the enriched bacteria in response to the gasoline treatment are Acidocella and Burkholderia spp. in freshwater marsh; Mariprofundus, Nitrosospira, and Ferrimicrobium spp. in brackish marsh; and three Pseudomonas spp. in salt marsh. Our research will help to understand a gasoline bioremediation by indigenous bacteria and to develop site-specific bioremediation strategies for the Lake Pontchartrain.

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