Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b Genome sequencing. Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b

Biodegradation of alkanes by microbial communities is a ubiquitous process in nature. In practice, the microbial communities with high hydrocarbon-degrading performances were sometimes composed of not only hydrocarbon degraders but also non-consumers, but the synergistic mechanisms were yet unknown. We have found that two bacterial strains isolated from Chinese oilfields, Dietzia sp. DQ12-45-1b and Pseudomonas stutzeri SLG510A3-8, had the synergistic effect on hexadecane (C16) biodegradation, even though P. stutzeri could not utilize C16 individually. To gain a better understanding of the roles of the alkane non-consumer P. stutzeri in the C16-degrading consortium, we reconstructed a two-species stoichiometric metabolic model iBH1908, and integrated in silico prediction with the following in vitro validation, the comparative proteomics analysis, and the extracellular metabolomic detection.