What type of microbe is Alcanivorax borkumensis?

Abstract. Alcanivorax borkumensis is a cosmopolitan marine bacterium that uses oil hydrocarbons as its exclusive source of carbon and energy. Although barely detectable in unpolluted environments, A. borkumensis becomes the dominant microbe in oil-polluted waters.

What is the meaning of Alcanivorax?

Alcanivorax is a genus of alkane-degrading marine bacteria.

Is Alcanivorax a bacteria?

Enter Alcanivorax borkumensis, a small bacterium that thrives on petroleum. Able to feed on both hydrocarbons and alkanes abundant in oil, this bacterium occurs naturally near oil seeps in marine environments.

Is Alcanivorax aerobic?

Alcanivorax borkumensis (A. borkumensis) is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped hydrocarbonoclastic (“oil-degrading”) bacterium. It thrives in halophilic, aerobic environments and is found in the upper layers of freshwater or marine environments such as the Mediterranean Sea, Pacific Ocean and Arctic Sea [4, 8].

What is Alcanivorax bacteria used for?

borkumensis to flourish in marine environments that have been affected by oil spills. Through its metabolism, A. borkumensis can break down oil into harmless compounds. This ability makes this particular species a major potential source for bioremediation of oil-polluted marine environments.

How is Alcanivorax Borkumensis used?

After a disastrous deep-sea oil spill, a bacteria was discovered at great ocean depths, feasting on the oil. Now known as Alcanivorax borkumensis, the bacteria was able to digest oil by breaking down petroleum hydrocarbons with the use of special enzymes — something no other known bacteria can do.

Who found Alcanivorax Borkumensis?

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.

How do you pronounce Alcanivorax Borkumensis?

What is the role of a Borkumensis in bioremediation?

A. borkumensis is known to produce biosurfactants, which enhance uptake of alkanes, its main source of carbon and energy [38]. It is probable that such biosurfactants produced by A. borkumensis fortuitously increase the availability of PAHs thereby enhancing their biodegradation by other microbes in the seawater [30].

When was Alcanivorax discovered?

1998
The most closely studied of these rod-shaped bacteria, Alcanivorax borkumensis, was first identified in 1998 near the Isle of Borkum in the North Sea. It has several efficient enzymes that break down a variety of the components of crude oil called alkanes.

Does Alcanivorax Borkumensis have a flagella?

Alcanivorax borkumensis is a member of this hydrocarbonoclastic family and is a rod-shaped bacterium that lacks flagella.

What are Hydrocarbonoclastic organisms?

Hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (also known as hydrocarbon degrading bacteria, oil degrading bacteria or HCB) are a heterogeneous group of prokaryotes which can degrade and utilize hydrocarbon compounds as source of carbon and energy.

What bacteria is used to clean up oil spills?

Naturally occurring hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria play an important role in breaking down oil in the event of a spill. Since the mid-1990s a number of these bacteria have been isolated, such as Alcanivorax and Marinobacter.

How do bacteria degrade hydrocarbons?

Most petroleum hydrocarbons encountered in the environment are ultimately degraded or metabolized by indigenous bacteria because of their energetic and carbon needs for growth and reproduction, as well as the requirement to relieve physiological stress caused by the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons in the microbial …

Are called as Hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria?

Bacteria like Pseudomonas spp. and Alcanovorax borkumensis are regarded as oil eaters. They degrade hydrocarbons such as mineral oils to carbon dioxide and water. Hence, they are called hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HCB).