Two outdoors companies have given federal trade regulators more time to review their proposed $5 billion merger.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/339471-regulators-get-more-time-to-review-cabelas-bass-pro-shops-merger Press Releases
Microbe Mystery Solved: What Happened to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Plume Berkeley Lab researchers simulate spill, discover new bacterium, map microbe activity
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 is one of the most studied spills in history, yet scientists haven’t agreed on the role of microbes in eating up the oil. Now a research team at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has identified all of the principal oil-degrading bacteria as well as their mechanisms for chewing up the many different components that make up the released crude oil.
“This provides the most complete account yet of what was happening in the hydrocarbon plumes in the deep ocean during the event,” said Andersen. Berkeley Lab’s Ping Hu, the lead author of the study, added: “We simulated the conditions of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in the lab and were able to understand the mechanisms for oil degradation from all of the principal oil-degrading bacteria that were observed in the original oil spill.”
This oil spill was the largest in history, with the release of 4.1 million barrels of crude oil as well as large amounts of natural gas from a mile below the surface of the ocean. After the initial explosion and uncontained release of oil, researchers observed a phenomenon that had not been seen before: More than 40 percent of the oil, combined with an introduced chemical dispersant, was retained in a plume nearly 100 miles long at this great depth.
Yet because of the difficulty in collecting samples from so far below the ocean surface, and because of the large area that was impacted by the spill, a number of gaps in understanding the fate of the oil over time remained.
Discovery of a new bacterium
Andersen and his team returned to the spill location four years later to collect water at depth. With the assistance of co-authors Piero Gardinali of Florida International University and Ron Atlas of the University of Louisville, a suspension of small, insoluble oil droplets was evenly distributed in bottles, along with the more soluble oil fractions and chemical dispersant to mimic the conditions of the oil plume. Over the next 64 days the composition of the microbes and the crude oil were intensively studied.
The researchers witnessed an initial rapid growth of a microbe that had been previously observed to be the dominant bacterium in the early stages of the oil release but which had eluded subsequent attempts by others to recreate the conditions of the Gulf of Mexico oil plume.
Through DNA sequencing of its genome they were able to identify its mechanism for degrading oil. They gave this newly discovered bacterium the tentative name of
Bermanella macondoprimitus based on its relatedness to other deep-sea microbes and the location where it was discovered.
“Our study demonstrated the importance of using dispersants in producing neutrally buoyant, tiny oil droplets, which kept much of the oil from reaching the ocean surface,” Andersen said. “Naturally occurring microbes at this depth are highly specialized in growing by using specific components of the oil for their food source. So the oil droplets provided a large surface area for the microbes to chew up the oil.”
Working with Berkeley Lab scientist Jill Banfield, a study co-author and also a professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, the team used newly developed DNA-based methods to identify all of the genomes of the microbes that used the introduced oil for growth along with their specific genes that were responsible for oil degradation. Many of the bacteria that were identified were similar to oil-degrading bacteria found on the ocean surface but had considerably streamlined sets of genes for oil degradation.
Filling in the gaps
Early work on microbial activity after the oil spill was led by Berkeley Lab’s Terry Hazen (now primarily associated with the University of Tennessee), which provided
the first data ever on microbial activity from a deepwater dispersed oil plume.
While Hazen’s work revealed a variety of hydrocarbon degraders, this latest study identified the mechanisms the bacteria used to degrade oil and the relationship of these organisms involved in the spill to previously characterized hydrocarbon-degrading organisms.
“We now have the capability to identify the specific organisms that would naturally degrade the oil if spills occurred in other regions and to calculate the rates of the oil degradation to figure out how long it would take to consume the spilled oil at depth,” Andersen said.
Listen to Gary Andersen talking about microbes — how he got interested in them and how they can be used in combating climate change
Implications for future spills
Andersen noted that it is not clear if the degradation of oil at these depths would have occurred in other offshore oil-producing regions. “The Gulf of Mexico is home to one of the largest concentrations of underwater hydrocarbon seeps, and it has been speculated that this helped in the selection of oil-degrading microbes that were observed in the underwater plumes,” he said.
Although the well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon rig was one of the deepest of its time, new oil exploration offshore of Brazil, Uruguay, and India has now exceeded 2 miles below the ocean surface. By capturing water from these areas and subjecting them to the same test, it may be possible in the future to understand the consequences of an uncontrolled release of oil in these areas in greater detail.
“Our greatest hope would be that there were no oil spills in the future,” Andersen said. “But having the ability to manipulate conditions in the laboratory could potentially allow us to develop new insights for mitigating their impact.”
This research was funded by the
Energy Biosciences Institute, a partnership led by UC Berkeley that includes Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Other study co-authors were Eric Dubinsky, Lauren Tom, Christian Sieber, and Jian Wang of Berkeley Lab, and Alexander Probst of UC Berkeley.
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit
www.lbl.gov.
DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit
science.energy.gov.
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2017/06/26/microbe-mystery-solved-happened-deepwater-horizon-oil-plume/ EPA to Accept Nominations for Science Boards
06/26/2017
Contact Information:
U.S. EPA Media Relations (
press@epa.gov)
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that a notice will be published in the Federal Register, tomorrow, June 27, seeking nominations for the Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). Nominations will be accepted for 30 days following publication of the Federal Register notice. Members serve at the request of the Administrator and are carefully selected for their scientific expertise and independence.
“These boards play an important role at EPA by providing independent advice based on sound science in support of the agency’s mission, and I would like to thank all board members for their service,”
said Administrator Pruitt. “I strongly encourage scientific viewpoints from a full range of stakeholders in order to achieve balanced scientific advice.”
In 1978, Congress directed EPA to establish an SAB to provide independent scientific advice to the Administrator on science that underlies agency rulemaking.
As spelled out by the Clean Air Act, CASAC has specific statutory duties, including advice related to air quality standards like the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). A recent Government Accountability Organization
report found that CASAC has never provided advice on adverse social, economic or energy effects related to NAAQS because it was not asked to play that role. Moving forward, EPA will ensure the CASAC addresses this serious deficiency and fulfills its complete duties, as spelled out by legislative statute.
“This announcement is an opportunity to provide clear direction for the future of these boards, and we welcome all qualified candidates with a variety of expertise and backgrounds to apply,”
said Administrator Pruitt. Nominations can be submitted on each board’s respective website.
To learn more about SAB and submit a nomination, visit:
www.epa.gov/sab To learn more about CASAC and submit a nomination, visit:
www.epa.gov/casac Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
Reptile Skin Grown in Lab for First Time
Helps Study Endangered Turtle Disease
USGS
Scientists recently reconstructed the skin of endangered green turtles, marking the first time that skin of a non-mammal was successfully engineered in a laboratory, according to a recently published
U.S. Geological Survey study. In turn, the scientists were able to grow a tumor-associated virus to better understand certain tumor diseases.
This microscopic image shows a sun-shaped area within turtle skin cells where chelonid herpesvirus 5 replicates. The virus capsids, or protein shells, are arrayed like a corona around the circle. ChHV5 is associated with
fibropapillomatosis, a tumor disease affecting endangered green turtles. (Credit: Thierry Work, USGS)
In an international collaboration, scientists engineered turtle skin in order to grow a virus called chelonid herpesvirus 5, or ChHV5. ChHV5 is associated with fibropapillomatosis, known as FP, a tumor disease affecting green turtles worldwide but particularly those in Hawaii, Florida and Brazil. FP in turtles causes disfiguring tumors on the skin, eyes and mouth as well as internal tumors. The virus also harms turtles’ immune systems, leading to secondary infections, emaciation and often death.
Examining how ChHV5 grows in turtle skin brings researchers closer to fighting viral diseases that threaten imperiled species.
“Fibropapillomatosis is the most common infectious disease affecting endangered green turtles,” said Thierry Work, a USGS scientist and the lead author of the study. “Our findings provide a significant advancement in studying FP, and may eventually help scientists better understand other herpes virus-induced tumor diseases, including those of humans.”
The scientists used cells from tumors and normal skin from turtles to reconstruct the complex three-dimensional structure of turtle skin, allowing growth of ChHV5 in the lab. Growing the virus gave scientists an opportunity to observe virus replication in unprecedented detail, revealing bizarre systems such as sun-shaped virus replication centers where the viruses form within cells.
Although the existence of ChHV5 has been known for more than 20 years, the inability to grow the virus in the laboratory hampered understanding of how it causes tumors and the development of blood tests to detect the virus.
“Examining viruses within the complex three-dimensional structure of engineered skin is exciting, because virus replication in such a system is likely much closer to reality than traditional laboratory techniques,” Work said. “This method could be a powerful tool for answering broader questions about virus-induced tumors in reptiles and herpes virus replication in general.”
The U.S Endangered Species Act and International Union for the Conservation of Nature list sea turtles as threatened or endangered throughout most of their range. Aside from disease, threats to green turtles include loss of nesting habitat, nest destruction and bycatch in commercial fisheries.
The USGS partnered with the University of Hawaii, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Zurich on the new study.
For more information about wildlife disease research, please visit the
USGS National Wildlife Health Center website.
https://www.usgs.gov/news/reptile-skin-grown-lab-first-time-helps-study-endangered-turtle-disease 
