In our fossil-fuel age, oil spills remain a major problem. From the Exxon Valdez to the recent Prestige disaster in Spain, several million tons of oil soils the world's seas every year, causing ecological catastrophe. Scientists developing cleanup strategies have looked to the microbes that thrive in the wake of such spills as one solution. Now, thanks to a detailed breakdown of one of the most effective of these oil-eaters, they are closer to having biologically based remedies for such environmental disasters.

Alcanivorax borkumensis is a rod-shaped bacteria that relies on oil to provide it with energy. Relatively rare in unpolluted seas it quickly comes to dominate the marine microbial ecosystem after an oil spill, and it can be found throughout the world's oceans. V¿tor A. P. Martins dos Santos of the German Research Center for Biotechnology and his colleagues broke the marine organism's genome into more than 3 million base pairs and then pieced them together into a complete genetic map.

That map contains several so-called islands that are unique to A. borkumensis, such as a set of genes that allow the organism to break down the alkanes in oil and use them as food. The microbe also has a wide variety of mechanisms by which it can take advantage of hydrocarbons, giving it a competitive advantage over similar organisms. Its dominance is also derived from its ability to use both organic and inorganic nitrogen: "although many constituents in crude oil are biodegradable, the main limitation to their actual biodegradation is nutrient availability, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous," the researchers explain in the paper presenting the genome in Nature Biotechnology.

By sequencing the genome of this oil-eating microbe, the scientists hope to harness its power to help clean up future oil spills. They write, "the genome data and their functional analysis provides us with an invaluable knowledge base essential to design, develop, test and optimize rational strategies to mitigate the ecological damage caused by oil spills in marine systems."

5 Comments

1. 1. Consecrated 01:40 AM 4/30/10

   So is it possible to get these "oil eaters" NOW for the oil spill that is currently in our oceans on the Eastern Seaboard?
   
   I vaguely remember a incident about 10 years ago, an oil spill required "oil eating" bacterium.

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2. 2. pablo163 03:31 AM 6/2/10

   I specifically propose inject mercury into the pipe, the downward force of gravity on the droplets will be stronger than upward drag forces due to the speed of oil (it is a liquid that has a specific gravity of 13.6), the droplets will fall to the bottom of the pipe, the idea is to form a column of mercury of 500-1000 m in height whitin the pipe that balances the reservoir pressure and prevent the loss.
   Pablo Schickendantz, EME, UBA, Argentina
   2004 Technology Trophy Award SUEZ Environnment
   More details: Tel +54 9 11 5896 5944 (spanish)
   

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3. 3. Markmagas 10:16 AM 6/2/10

   The microbes which eat tires on our roadways and oil have been well known for some time. I assume the purpose of this mapping was to enhance the microbes. Yet will the Henny Penny's allow modified microbes to be released. In the eighties microbes were designed that would prevent frost on windshields and Jeremy Rifkin et al mobilized to prevent their use, thus accelerating the failure of Chrysler Motors. The same is true with microbes designed to protect our food crops so is there any reason that these anti technology people would not rather see the elimination of species and the economic destruction of millions?

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4. 4. TheRemediator in reply to Consecrated 01:01 AM 6/13/10

   My company commercialized a process using fungi to clean petroleum contaminated soil. This and other biological processes have the capacity to transform organic toxins rendering them to non toxic forms through a process of mineralization. The problem in the Gulf Oil Spill is the volume. The reason we are not wading through a sea of microbes that have consumed every living or dead thing under our feet is that nature just doesn't work this way. Organic compounds are being broken down by living things in highly organized systems at specific rates. Usually slowly. Look how long it takes a tree to decompose lying on the ground. The cleanup of the Gulf Oil Spill will take a diversity of methods over an unknown amount of time.

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5. 5. denwuld 03:08 AM 6/18/10

   Hi all!
   I think oil tankers should park in the oil spill and hang pumps in the water and pump up the oil into a tanker. When the mixture separates, release the water back into the ocean. It would be time consuming and expensive but it would get the oil into tankers. Any submersible pump should work.
   Here in SC people pump lake water into a sprinkler system on their lake front properties and water their yard for free. Electric bill only for running the pumps.
   http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/lovefilm-free-trial-30-days-free-trial-review-2661891.html

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