Alcanivorax borkumensis
Alcanivorax borkumensis is an alkane-degrading marine bacterium which
naturally propagates and becomes predominant in crude-oil-containing seawater
when nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients are supplemented.
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.
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."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcanivorax#:~:text=Alcanivorax%20borkumensis%20is%20an%20alkane,and%20phosphorus%20nutrients%20are%20supplemented.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-break-down-oil/
The article paper is very informative and work the students done is 👍👍
ReplyDeleteIt sure looks futuristic, I think it will be very helpful if we can understand and use the bio organism efficiently.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and informative
ReplyDeletevery relevant and informative
ReplyDeleteVery relevant
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