Effects of prokaryotic diversity changes on hydrocarbon degradation rates and metal partitioning during bioremediation of contaminated anoxic marine sediments

We investigated changes of prokaryotic diversity during bioremediation experiments carried out on anoxic marine sediments characterized by high hydrocarbon and metal content. Microcosms containing contaminated sediments were amended with lactose and acetate and incubated in anaerobic conditions up to 60 d at 20 or 35 °C. Microcosms displaying higher degradation efficiency of hydrocarbons were characterized by the dominance of Alphaproteobacteria and Methanosarcinales and the lack of gene sequences belonging to known hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria. Multivariate analyses support the hypothesis that Alphaproteobacteria are important for hydrocarbon degradation and highlight a potential synergistic effect of archaea and bacteria in changes of metal partitioning. Overall, these results point out that the identification of changes in the prokaryotic diversity during bioremediation of contaminated marine sediments is not only important for the improvement of bio-treatment performance towards hydrocarbons, but also for a better comprehension of changes occurring in metal partitioning which affect their mobility and toxicity.