Microalgae Pavlova lutheri and Nannochloropsis occulata are natural hosts of hydrocarbon-degrading Alcanivorax and Marinobacter

Hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria whose diet is restricted to hydrocarbons, initially associated with man-made oil spills or natural seeps, play an important role in natural petroleum biodegradation processes. However, their natural ecological roles in absentia of petroleum, and their natural niches are still a matter for discussion. Marine photosynthetic microalgae that are that able to produce oleophilic compounds might host these of naturally- occurring hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. In this study, we set up established petroleum crude oil-based enrichment cultures with photobioreactor-grown marine microalgae microalgal cultures (Pavlova lutheri and Nannochloropsis occulata) and analysed microbial succession using cultivation and culture-independent approaches (barcoded SSU rRNA amplicon sequencing), combining Illumina MiSeq and Oxford Nanopore platforms.