Bacterial Community Response to Hydrocarbon Contamination in Soils and Marine Sediments: A Critical Review of Case Studies

The widespread distribution of petroleum hydrocarbons due to anthropogenic activities is becoming a major problem for both marine and terrestrial environments. Indigenous microbial communities with aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons degradation capacities play a collaborative role in the dissipation of hydrocarbon contaminants in such environments. Although the role of the uncultured microbes, which represent the majority of the members of the microbial communities in the environment, remains unknown, it is clear that our knowledge on microbial community’s responses has considerably improved over the past two decades and its relevance in field studies has been demonstrated in several instances. This critical review provides an in-depth understanding of the microbial responses to oil hydrocarbons in soils and marine sediments through case studies and sheds light on the bacterial diversity from these environments mainly with the application of molecular approaches and the recent “omics” and meta-“omics” technologies. Finally, the interplay of the various factors affecting the abundance, diversity and functional composition of bacterial communities such as soil type, type and concentration of contaminants, chronic contamination, temperature, salinity, pH and biostimulation through nutrient and oxygen supplementation are reviewed.