Oil contamination drives the transformation of microbial communities and metabolic pathways involved in Phosphorous-cycling in coastal soil

Soil Phosphorous (P) availability is critical for many important ecological processes and oil-contaminated soil remediation. Despites a few studies confirmed directly effects of crude oil exposure on soil Phosphorus-cycling (P-cycling), how soil microbes and functional genes affiliated with P-cycling respond to crude oil remains poorly understood.

Here, metagenomics was implemented to analyze variations in the microbial community structure and potential functions associated with P transformation in the coastal soil contaminated by crude oil.

Results showed a dramatic scarcity of P in the contaminated soil. Microbial inorganic P solubilization was governed by genes gcd and ppx in CK soil. In contrast, genes encoding C-P lyase (phnGHIJKLN) and alkaline phosphatase (phoA) displayed significantly greater abundances in the contaminated soils. Taxa annotation revealed that oil contamination altered the structure of the P-cycling microbial community with a bias towards those with oligotrophic characteristics. Specifically, the oil-contaminated soils were characterized by a stronger contribution of Proteobacteria, Ascomycota and Firmicutes. Overall, the strategy for acquiring P in the CK is inorganic P solubilization, while it converted to organic P mineralization under petroleum contamination. Soil N/P ratio played a key role in affecting P-cycling functional genes.

Our results highlighted that oil contamination with unbalanced N/P ratio greatly altered the microbial strategy for obtaining available P (AP) in soil. A better understanding of P-cycling mechanism exposed to oil contamination and further scientifically regulating it may set the stage for in-depth improvement for current bioremediation practices.