Fig. 1.

Dispersants affect the evolution of oil-degrading microbial populations. (A) Average and standard deviation (SD) of cell numbers from sample triplicates (log scale) monitored for 6 wk in microcosms. (B) Relative abundance of bacterial groups in Gulf of Mexico deep water in situ samples and in the microcosms (average of triplicate samples). Reads of the V4V5 regions of the 16S rRNA gene were clustered into operational taxonomic units and taxonomy was assigned with Global Alignment for Sequence Taxonomy (GAST).