由于海上溢油事故频发及陆源含油废水大量输入海洋，石油烃已成为海洋环境的主要污染物之一。海洋环境低溶氧的特性使得厌氧降解菌成为海上石油污染生物降解的主要功能菌群。然而，对海洋厌氧或兼性厌氧降解菌生理特性及其在好氧或是厌氧环境中的行为特征的研究尚不清楚。本研究从实验室分离得到的高效海洋兼性厌氧石油烃降解菌入手，借助传统的微生物学、分子生物学及分子标记等研究方法，通过分析降解产物、功能基因和功能酶，研究兼性厌氧降解菌在好氧或是厌氧环境中对石油烃的降解机理；通过绿色荧光蛋白分子标记兼性厌氧降解菌株，追踪降解菌在厌氧或是好氧微宇宙培养体系中存活、繁殖、发展和空间分布等行为特征。旨在揭示海洋兼性厌氧石油烃降解菌在有氧或厌氧环境中的作用机制，明晰其在环境中与土著菌或是氮、磷营养元素之间的关系，为指导相关的微生物修复活动提供相应的理论依据。

Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination is becoming a major widespread environmental problem, especially in coastal areas subjected to high anthropogenic inputs, such as oil spills, urban runoff, shipping and industrial activities. The high hydrocarbon concentrations accumulated in surface and subsurface ocean pose serious concerns for the environmental and human health. The low levels of dissolved oxygen in the ocean make the anaerobic or facultative anaerobic degrading bacteria the most important functional group. However, few data have been presented about the anaerobic or facultative anaerobic petroleum hydrocarbon degrading bacteria from the marine environment, especially the autecological properties of the pure bacterial strains. To this end, Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) tagged pure facultative anaerobic bacterial strains isolated in our lab will be investigated for their abilities and mechanisms to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons under both the aerobic and anaerobic conditions with the combination of interdisciplinary mixed methods of marine microbiology, autecology, biogeochemistry and molecular physiology. The study of the pure bacterial strains under controlled mesocosm systems will lead to an appreciation of their physical and chemical requirements for growth, reproduction and geographical distributions and provide autecological information to explain their behavior. This study also will reveal the relationship between the GFP tagged bacterial strains and the indigenous bacteria and the different degrees of requirements of various nutritional elements during the dagradation process. The insights and theories of this study will increase our understanding of the aerobic and anaerobic degradation process and mechanisms of marine facultative bacteria and provide fundamental evidences for in situ bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutions in the marine ecosystem.