ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY - Lab Report Example s has provided an excellent tool to study these complex microbial communities, and provides us with the means in which to assess the health of a given system (Atlas 2004). The danger posed by hydrocarbon contamination in sea water areas is rapidly increasing because of increase in human activities that need petroleum as a source of energy and because of the increased interest in the exploitation of a quarter of the world oil reservoir in the arctic ocean. Based on Metagenomic analysis of crude oil contaminated beach sample versus uncontaminated beach sample this paper seeks to explain the main statistically significant shifts between the two samples both taxonomically and metabolically, and provide a suggestion the possible reasoning for why these shifts may have occurred. Taxonomically, at 95% confidence interval, there are statistically significant shifts between the two samples such that at the domain level, bacteria, archae, and viruses are present with bacteria concentration being slightly higher in the contaminated sample as compared to the uncontaminated sample. Similarly, at the phylum level, there are statistically significant shifts in the proportion of protoebacteria concentration with the uncontaminated beach sample having a higher concentration of approximately less than 73.8% as compared to the contaminated sample. Under the same taxonomic level, bacteroidetes concentration in the contaminated sample is higher which is the similar case for planctomyccetes, cyanobacteria, acidobacteria, firmicutes, chloroflex, and cholorobi. On the contrary, there is a considerable shift in firmicules concentration with the contaminated beach sample having a higher concentration. At class level, there are statistically significant shifts in gammaproteobac teria with the uncontaminated beach sample having a higher proportion of about less than 37.8%. This is the same observation for actinobacteria, betaprotobacteria, and alphaprotobacteria. On the contrary,