Microbial community related to oil biodegradation in Arctic sea ice and seawater (SW Greenland)

To study oil biodegradation under in situ Arctic conditions, we deployed oil-coated adsorbents (fluorocarbon-based adsorbents (90 × 45 × 0.29 mm) coated with 61-114µL marine gas oil) for 2.5-month in ice-covered seawater and sea ice in Nuup Kangelua (Godthaab Fjord), SW Greenland. Thin oil films on these adsorbents mimicked dispersed oil droplets and were colonized by an oil-degrading biofilm. We profiled the composition of the bacterial communities developing as biofilms on the adsorbents deployed in seawater and sea ice as well as the sea ice and seawater communities around the adsorbents by PCR amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA genes using an Illumina MiSeq system. Observations of the bacterial community composition provided insights in the key oil-degraders, the community structure and dynamics, and explained the differences in the biodegradation potential in seawater and sea ice.