Quantification of Chemotaxis-Related Alkane Accumulation in Acinetobacter baylyi Using Raman Microspectroscopy

Alkanes are one of the most widespread contaminants in the natural environment, primarily as a consequence of biological synthesis and oil spills. Many indigenous microbes metabolize alkanes, and the chemotaxis and accumulation in some strains has been identified. For the first time, we apply Raman microspectroscopy to identify such chemotaxis-related affinity, and quantify the alkane concentrations via spectral alterations. Raman spectral alterations were only found for the alkane chemo-attractant bacteria Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1, not for Pseudomonas fluorescence, which exhibits limited chemotaxis toward alkane. The significant alterations were attributed to the strong chemotactic ability of A. baylyi enhancing the affinity and accumulation of alkane molecules on cell membranes or cellular internalization. Spectral fingerprints of A. baylyi significantly altered after 1-h exposure to pure alkanes (dodecane or tetradecane) and alkane mixtures (mineral oil or crude oil), but not monocyclic aromatic hydro...