Anaerobic benzene mineralization by natural microbial communities from Niger Delta

The Niger Delta is one of the most damaged ecosystems in the world, mainly due to petroleum contaminations by oil exploration accidents. We investigated the natural attenuation potential of Niger Delta sediment samples for anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation using benzene as model compound. Abundant phylotypes in the natural communities mineralizing benzene were affiliated to Ignavibacteria, different classes of Proteobacteria (Alpha, Beta- or Deltaproteobacteria) or Methanosarcinales, illustrating that the enriched benzene-mineralizing communities were divers and may contain more than a single benzene degrader