Cyanobacterial mats developing in oil-contaminated sabkhas along the African coasts of the Gulf of Suez and in the pristine Solar Lake, Sinai, were collected for laboratory studies. Samples of both mats showed efficient degradation of crude oil in the light, followed by development of an intense bloom of Phormidium spp. and Oscillatoria spp. Isolated cyanobacterial strains, however, did not degrade crude oil in axenic cultures. Strains of sulfate-reducing bacteria and aerobic heterotrophs were capable of degrading model compounds of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Results indicate that degradation of oil was done primarily by aerobic heterotrophic bacteria. The oxygenic photosynthesis of oil-insensitive cyanobacteria supplied the molecular oxygen for the efficient aerobic metabolism of organisms, such as Marinobacter sp. The diurnal shifts in environmental conditions at the mat surface, from highly oxic conditions in the light to anaerobic sulfide-rich habitat in the dark, may allow the combined aerobic and anaerobic degradation of crude oil at the mat surface. Hence, coastal cyanobacterial mats may be used for the degradation of coastline oil spills. Oxygen microelectrodes detected a significant inhibition of photosynthetic activity subsequent to oil addition. This prevailed for a few hours and then rapidly recovered. In addition, shifts in bacterial community structure following exposure to oil were determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR-amplified fractions of 16S rRNA from eubacteria, cyanobacteria and sulfate-reducing bacteria. Since the mats used for the present study were obtained from oil-contaminated environments, they were believed to be preequilibrated for petroleum remediation. The mesocosm system at Eilat provided a unique opportunity to study petroleum degradation by mats formed under different salinities (up to 21%). These mats, dominated by cyanobacteria, can serve as close analogues to the sabkhas contaminated during the Gulf War in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

中文翻译：

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海洋微生物垫对油的生物修复。

收集了在苏伊士湾非洲沿岸的石油污染的萨布哈斯群岛和西奈半岛原始太阳能湖中形成的蓝藻菌垫，用于实验室研究。两个垫子的样品在光照下均显示出原油的有效降解，随后形成了强烈的or虫花。和Oscillatoriaspp。但是，分离的蓝细菌菌株在腐殖质培养物中并未降解原油。硫酸盐还原菌和好氧异养菌能够降解脂族和芳族烃的模型化合物。结果表明，油的降解主要是由好氧异养细菌完成的。石油不敏感的蓝细菌的光合作用为分子（如马氏杆菌）的有效需氧代谢提供了分子氧sp。垫层表面环境条件的日变化，从光照下的高氧条件到黑暗中富含厌氧硫化物的栖息地，都可能使垫层表面的原油有氧和厌氧性联合降解。因此，沿海蓝藻垫可用于降解海岸线溢油。氧气微电极在添加油后检测到对光合活性的显着抑制。这种情况持续了几个小时，然后迅速恢复。此外，暴露于油中的细菌群落结构的变化是通过变性梯度凝胶电泳确定的，该梯度凝胶电泳来自真细菌，蓝细菌和硫酸盐还原细菌的16S rRNA PCR扩增级分。由于用于本研究的垫子是从受油污染的环境中获得的，他们被认为是预先平衡的石油修复。埃拉特的中观宇宙系统提供了独特的机会来研究在不同盐度下（高达21％）形成的垫层对石油的降解。这些以蓝细菌为主的垫子，可以与科威特和沙特阿拉伯海湾战争期间受污染的萨布卡人近似。