Simultaneous petroleum hydrocarbon degradation and nitrogen removal by Acinetobacter sp. XF-5: Degradation mechanisms and temporal metabolic reprogramming.

Acinetobacter sp. XF-5 efficiently removes nitrogen pollutants while degrading total petroleum hydrocarbons under optimal conditions, achieving >74.45% degradation of normal alkanes C11–C31.

• Why it matters: Coupled hydrocarbon breakdown and nitrogen removal for shale oil fracturing flowback is promising, but the metabolic regulation and enzyme–hydrocarbon coupling mechanisms are still unclear.
• What they did: XF-5 performance and wastewater adaptability were characterized under sodium acetate co-metabolism, carbon/nitrogen ratio 25, pH 7, and 10% inoculum volume, using multi-omics and nitrogen balance plus molecular dynamics simulations.
• The result: Multi-omics suggests nitrogen removal is likely driven by alternative enzymatic pathways compensating for missing typical nitrification/denitrification genes, and temporal metabolic reprogramming shifts from ATP-intensive proliferation to alkane-driven macromolecule synthesis under carbon limitation.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.