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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Carolyn Aitken, Dr Martin Jones, Michael Maguire, Emeritus Professor Neil GrayORCiD, Dr Angela SherryORCiD, Bernard Bowler, Professor Stephen Larter, Professor Ian Head
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Fumarate addition has been widely proposed as an initial step in the anaerobic oxidation of both aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Alkyl and aryl succinates have been reported as metabolites of hydrocarbon degradation in laboratory studies with both pure and enrichment cultures of sulfate-, nitrate-, and iron-reducing bacteria. In addition these compounds have been reported in samples from environments such as hydrocarbon contaminated aquifers where, in addition to the above redox processes, hydrocarbon degradation linked to methanogenesis was observed. Here we report data from anaerobic crude oil degrading microcosms which revealed significant differences between the acid metabolite profiles of crude oil degraded under sulfate-reducing or methanogenic conditions. Under sulfate-reducing conditions fumarate addition and the formation of alkylsuccinate metabolites was the principal mechanism for the anaerobic degradation ofn-alkanes and branched chain alkanes. Other than alkyl succinates that represent indigenous metabolites in the sediment inoculum, alkyl succinate metabolites were never detected in sediment microcosms where methane generation was quantitatively linked to n-alkane degradation. This indicates that alternative mechanisms of alkane activation may operate under methanogenic conditions.
Author(s): Aitken CM, Jones DM, Maguire MJ, Gray ND, Sherry A, Bowler BFJ, Ditchfield AK, Larter SR, Head IM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Year: 2013
Volume: 109
Pages: 162-174
Print publication date: 09/02/2013
ISSN (print): 0016-7037
ISSN (electronic): 1872-9533
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2013.01.031
DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2013.01.031
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