Bacterial Community Composition in Produced Water of Diyarbakır Oil Fields in Turkey

Abstract

Oil fields harbour a wide variety of microorganisms with different metabolic capabilities. To examine the microbial ecology of petroleum reservoirs, a molecular-based approach was used to assess the composition of bacterial communities in produced water of Diyarbakır oil fields in Turkey. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments was performed to characterise the bacterial community structure of produced water samples and to identify predominant community members after sequencing of separated DGGE bands. The majority of bacterial sequences retrieved from DGGE analysis of produced water samples belonged to unclassified bacteria (50%).Among the classified bacteria, Proteobacteria (29.2%), Firmicutes (8.3%), Bacteroidetes (8.3%) and Actinobacteria (4.2%) groups were identified. Pseudomonas was the dominant genus detected in the produced water samples. The results of this research provide, for the first time, insight into the complexity of microbial communities in the Diyarbakır oil reservoirs and their dominant constituents.