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Key players and team play: anaerobic microbial communities in hydrocarbon-contaminated aquifers

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Abstract

Biodegradation of anthropogenic pollutants in shallow aquifers is an important microbial ecosystem service which is mainly brought about by indigenous anaerobic microorganisms. For the management of contaminated sites, risk assessment and control of natural attenuation, the assessment of in situ biodegradation and the underlying microbial processes is essential. The development of novel molecular methods, “omics” approaches, and high-throughput techniques has revealed new insight into complex microbial communities and their functions in anoxic environmental systems. This review summarizes recent advances in the application of molecular methods to study anaerobic microbial communities in contaminated terrestrial subsurface ecosystems. We focus on current approaches to analyze composition, dynamics, and functional diversity of subsurface communities, to link identity to activity and metabolic function, and to identify the ecophysiological role of not yet cultured microbes and syntrophic consortia. We discuss recent molecular surveys of contaminated sites from an ecological viewpoint regarding degrader ecotypes, abiotic factors shaping anaerobic communities, and biotic interactions underpinning the importance of microbial cooperation for microbial ecosystem services such as contaminant degradation.

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Acknowledgments

This work is integrated in the internal research and development program of the UFZ as well as the SAFIRA project (Remediation research in regionally contaminated aquifers) and the CITE program (Chemicals in the environment).

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  1. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Sabine Kleinsteuber & Kathleen M. Schleinitz

  2. Department of Isotope Biogeochemistry, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Carsten Vogt

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  1. Sabine Kleinsteuber
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Kleinsteuber, S., Schleinitz, K.M. & Vogt, C. Key players and team play: anaerobic microbial communities in hydrocarbon-contaminated aquifers. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 94, 851–873 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4025-0

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