Biofortification could improve the bioremediation efficiency of microbes in the reparation of marine environmental damage caused by oil spills. In this paper, Chlorella vulgaris LH-1 was used as a fortifier to enhance the degradation of a marine oil spill by endogenous microorganisms. The addition of C. vulgaris LH-1 increased the degradation efficiency of crude oil by 11.09-42.41% and considerably accelerated oil degradation efficiency. Adding C. vulgaris LH-1 to a crude oil environment can improve the activity of endogenous seawater microorganisms. The results of high-throughput sequencing showed that the main bacterial genera were Oceanicola, Roseibacillus, and Rhodovulum when exotrophic C. vulgaris LH-1 and seawater endogenous microorganisms degraded low-concentration crude oil together. However, the addition of high-concentration nutrient salts changed the main bacterial genera in seawater to unclassified Microbacterium, Erythrobacter, and Phaeodactylibacter. The addition of C. vulgaris LH-1 increased the abundance of marine bacteria, Rhodococcus, and Methylophaga and decreased the abundance of Pseudomonas, Cladosporium, and Aspergillus. The functional prediction results of phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states indicated that C. vulgaris LH-1 could improve the metabolic ability of seawater endogenous microorganisms to degrade endogenous bacteria and fungi in crude oil.
Keywords: Chlorella vulgaris; endogenous microorganism; enhanced degradation; marine oil spill.