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Title: Deep-Subsurface Pressure Stimulates Metabolic Plasticity in Shale-Colonizing Halanaerobium spp.

Abstract

Bacterial Halanaerobium strains become the dominant persisting microbial community member in produced fluids across geographically distinct hydraulically fractured shales. Halanaerobium is believed to be inadvertently introduced into this environment during the drilling and fracturing process and must therefore tolerate large changes in pressure, temperature, and salinity. Here, we used a Halanaerobium strain isolated from a natural gas well in the Utica Point Pleasant formation to investigate metabolic and physiological responses to growth under high-pressure subsurface conditions. Laboratory incubations confirmed the ability of Halanaerobium congolense strain WG8 to grow under pressures representative of deep shale formations (21 to 48 MPa). Under these conditions, broad metabolic and physiological shifts were identified, including higher abundances of proteins associated with the production of extracellular polymeric substances. Confocal laser scanning microscopy indicated that extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) production was associated with greater cell aggregation when biomass was cultured at high pressure.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6];  [6];  [7]
  1. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. DowDuPont Industrial Biosciences, Wilmington, DE (United States)
  4. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  5. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
  6. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
  7. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1567051
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-144542
Journal ID: ISSN 0099-2240
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 85; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 0099-2240
Publisher:
American Society for Microbiology
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Halanaerobium; Shale; Biofilms; High Pressure; Hydraulic fracturing; Metabolomics

Citation Formats

Booker, Anne E., Hoyt, David W., Meulia, Tea, Eder, Elizabeth, Nicora, Carrie D., Purvine, Samuel O., Daly, Rebecca A., Moore, Joseph D., Wunch, Kenneth, Pfiffner, Susan M., Lipton, Mary S., Mouser, Paula J., Wrighton, Kelly C., Wilkins, Michael J., and Liu, Shuang-Jiang. Deep-Subsurface Pressure Stimulates Metabolic Plasticity in Shale-Colonizing Halanaerobium spp.. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1128/AEM.00018-19.
Booker, Anne E., Hoyt, David W., Meulia, Tea, Eder, Elizabeth, Nicora, Carrie D., Purvine, Samuel O., Daly, Rebecca A., Moore, Joseph D., Wunch, Kenneth, Pfiffner, Susan M., Lipton, Mary S., Mouser, Paula J., Wrighton, Kelly C., Wilkins, Michael J., & Liu, Shuang-Jiang. Deep-Subsurface Pressure Stimulates Metabolic Plasticity in Shale-Colonizing Halanaerobium spp.. United States. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00018-19
Booker, Anne E., Hoyt, David W., Meulia, Tea, Eder, Elizabeth, Nicora, Carrie D., Purvine, Samuel O., Daly, Rebecca A., Moore, Joseph D., Wunch, Kenneth, Pfiffner, Susan M., Lipton, Mary S., Mouser, Paula J., Wrighton, Kelly C., Wilkins, Michael J., and Liu, Shuang-Jiang. Fri . "Deep-Subsurface Pressure Stimulates Metabolic Plasticity in Shale-Colonizing Halanaerobium spp.". United States. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00018-19. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1567051.
@article{osti_1567051,
title = {Deep-Subsurface Pressure Stimulates Metabolic Plasticity in Shale-Colonizing Halanaerobium spp.},
author = {Booker, Anne E. and Hoyt, David W. and Meulia, Tea and Eder, Elizabeth and Nicora, Carrie D. and Purvine, Samuel O. and Daly, Rebecca A. and Moore, Joseph D. and Wunch, Kenneth and Pfiffner, Susan M. and Lipton, Mary S. and Mouser, Paula J. and Wrighton, Kelly C. and Wilkins, Michael J. and Liu, Shuang-Jiang},
abstractNote = {Bacterial Halanaerobium strains become the dominant persisting microbial community member in produced fluids across geographically distinct hydraulically fractured shales. Halanaerobium is believed to be inadvertently introduced into this environment during the drilling and fracturing process and must therefore tolerate large changes in pressure, temperature, and salinity. Here, we used a Halanaerobium strain isolated from a natural gas well in the Utica Point Pleasant formation to investigate metabolic and physiological responses to growth under high-pressure subsurface conditions. Laboratory incubations confirmed the ability of Halanaerobium congolense strain WG8 to grow under pressures representative of deep shale formations (21 to 48 MPa). Under these conditions, broad metabolic and physiological shifts were identified, including higher abundances of proteins associated with the production of extracellular polymeric substances. Confocal laser scanning microscopy indicated that extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) production was associated with greater cell aggregation when biomass was cultured at high pressure.},
doi = {10.1128/AEM.00018-19},
journal = {Applied and Environmental Microbiology},
number = 12,
volume = 85,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 12 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Fri Apr 12 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
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Figures / Tables:

FIG 1 FIG 1: H. congolense WG8 growth at high pressure. Growth rates (red) and corresponding cell densities (gray) across a pressure gradient (0.1 to 48 MPa) are shown. Growth rate and cell densities decreased as incubation pressure increased.

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Works referencing / citing this record:

The era of ‘omics’ technologies in the study of microbiologically influenced corrosion
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In situ transformation of ethoxylate and glycol surfactants by shale-colonizing microorganisms during hydraulic fracturing
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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.