Abstract
A study of biofilm formation in marine bacteria isolated from ballast tank fluids
Highlights
Biofilms are a form of fouling where microorganisms attach to a surface and produce a protective matrix that allows them to persist in hostile environments [1]
Of the 21 gramnegative strains, eight of the Gammaproteobacteria were classified as Alteromonas oceani S35 and three as A. tagae BCRC 17571
These data are consistent with a recent high throughput sequencing study showing that the most abundant Gammaproteobacterial OTUs from ballast waters from five separate ships belonged to Alteromonadales, which encompass the Alteromonas and Pseudoalteromonas genera [26]
Summary
Biofilms are a form of fouling where microorganisms attach to a surface and produce a protective matrix that allows them to persist in hostile environments [1]. Other examples of increases in biofouling-related maintenance costs include an annual increase of 2 to 4% due to fouling of ship ballast water [7] and 20 to 30% due to corrosion [8]. The Navy uses a compensated fuel ballast system in several classes of its ships, including cruisers and destroyers. Each system consists of a series of tanks connected in sequence and as fuel is spent seawater gets pumped in to compensate for the lost volume [9]. While this mechanism maintains ship stability during deployment, there can be unintended consequences to the ballast system infrastructure or fuel when seawater microorganisms are introduced. Several studies have demonstrated that some microorganisms can metabolize hydrocarbons present in fuels or enhance corrosion of the system [10,11,12]
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