In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic; their odor is usually faint, and may be similar to that of gasoline or lighter fluid. They occur in a diverse range of molecular structures and phases: they can be gases, liquids, low melting solids or polymers.
Bioremediation broadly refers to any process wherein a biological system, living or dead, is employed for removing environmental pollutants from air, water, soil, flue gasses, industrial effluents etc., in natural or artificial settings. The natural ability of organisms to adsorb, accumulate, and degrade common and emerging pollutants has attracted the use of biological resources in treatment of contaminated environment. In comparison to conventional physicochemical treatment methods bioremediation may offer considerable advantages as it aims to be sustainable, eco-friendly, cheap, and scalable.
In biology, syntrophy, syntrophism, or cross-feeding is the cooperative interaction between at least two microbial species to degrade a single substrate. This type of biological interaction typically involves the transfer of one or more metabolic intermediates between two or more metabolically diverse microbial species living in close proximity to each other. Thus, syntrophy can be considered an obligatory interdependency and a mutualistic metabolism between different microbial species, wherein the growth of one partner depends on the nutrients, growth factors, or substrates provided by the other(s).
Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans AK-01 is a specific strain of Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans.
Pseudomonas stutzeri is a Gram-negative soil bacterium that is motile, has a single polar flagellum, and is classified as bacillus, or rod-shaped. While this bacterium was first isolated from human spinal fluid, it has since been found in many different environments due to its various characteristics and metabolic capabilities. P. stutzeri is an opportunistic pathogen in clinical settings, although infections are rare. Based on 16S rRNA analysis, this bacterium has been placed in the P. stutzeri group, to which it lends its name.
Marinobacter is a genus of bacteria found in sea water. They are also found in a variety of salt lakes. A number of strains and species can degrade hydrocarbons. The species involved in hydrocarbon degradation include M. alkaliphilus, M. arcticus, M. hydrocarbonoclasticus, M. maritimus, and M. squalenivorans.
Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus is a species of bacteria found in sea water which are able to degrade hydrocarbons. The cells are rod-shaped and motile by means of a single polar flagellum.
Microbial biodegradation is the use of bioremediation and biotransformation methods to harness the naturally occurring ability of microbial xenobiotic metabolism to degrade, transform or accumulate environmental pollutants, including hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic compounds, pharmaceutical substances, radionuclides and metals.
Alcanivorax is a genus of alkane-degrading marine bacteria.
Lutibacterium is a genus of Gram-negative staining bacteria. It includes the hydrocarbon-degrading strain Lutibacterium anuloederans LC8.
Sphingomonas yanoikuyae is a short rod-shaped, strictly aerobic, Gram-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, chemoheterotrophic species of bacteria that is yellow or off-white in color. Its type strain is JCM 7371. It is notable for degrading a variety of aromatic compounds including biphenyl, naphthalene, phenanthrene, toluene, m-, and p-xylene. S. yanoikuyae was discovered by Brian Goodman on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. However, Sphingomonas have a wide distribution across freshwater, seawater, and terrestrial habitats. This is due to the bacteria's ability to grow and survive under low-nutrient conditions as it can utilize a broad range of organic compounds.
Alcanivorax pacificus is a pyrene-degrading marine gammaproteobacterium. It is of the genus Alcanivorax, a group of marine bacteria known for degrading hydrocarbons. When originally proposed, the genus Alcanivorax comprised six distinguishable species. However, A. pacificus, a seventh strain, was isolated from deep sea sediments in the West Pacific Ocean by Shanghai Majorbio Bio-pharm Technology Co., Ltd. in 2011. A. pacificus’s ability to degrade hydrocarbons can be employed for cleaning up oil-contaminated oceans through bioremediation. The genomic differences present in this strain of Alcanivorax that distinguish it from the original consortium are important to understand to better utilize this bacteria for bioremediation.
Petroleum microbiology is a branch of microbiology that deals with the study of microorganisms that can metabolize or alter crude or refined petroleum products. These microorganisms, also called hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms, can degrade hydrocarbons and, include a wide distribution of bacteria, methanogenic archaea, and some fungi. Not all hydrocarbonoclasic microbes depend on hydrocarbons to survive, but instead may use petroleum products as alternative carbon and energy sources. Interest in this field is growing due to the increasing use of bioremediation of oil spills.
Oleispira antarctica is a hydrocarbonoclastic marine bacterium, the type species in its genus. It is psychrophilic, aerobic and Gram-negative, with polar flagellum. Its genome has been sequenced and from this information, it has been recognized as a potentially important organism capable of oil degradation in the deep sea.
Thalassolituus oleivorans is a species of bacteria, the type species of its genus. It is an aerobic, heterotrophic, Gram-negative, curved bacteria that metabolises aliphatic hydrocarbons, their oxidized derivatives and acetate, with type strain MIL-1T.
The water associated fraction (WAF), sometimes termed the water-soluble fraction (W.S.F.), is the solution of low molecular mass hydrocarbons naturally released from petroleum hydrocarbon mixtures in contact with water. Although generally regarded as hydrophobic, many petroleum hydrocarbons are soluble in water to a limited extent. This combination often also contains less soluble, higher molecular mass components, and more soluble products of chemical and biological degradation.
Bioremediation of petroleum contaminated environments is a process in which the biological pathways within microorganisms or plants are used to degrade or sequester toxic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and other volatile organic compounds found within fossil fuels. Oil spills happen frequently at varying degrees along with all aspects of the petroleum supply chain, presenting a complex array of issues for both environmental and public health. While traditional cleanup methods such as chemical or manual containment and removal often result in rapid results, bioremediation is less labor-intensive, expensive, and averts chemical or mechanical damage. The efficiency and effectiveness of bioremediation efforts are based on maintaining ideal conditions, such as pH, RED-OX potential, temperature, moisture, oxygen abundance, nutrient availability, soil composition, and pollutant structure, for the desired organism or biological pathway to facilitate reactions. Three main types of bioremediation used for petroleum spills include microbial remediation, phytoremediation, and mycoremediation. Bioremediation has been implemented in various notable oil spills including the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident where the application of fertilizer on affected shoreline increased rates of biodegradation.
Desulfococcus oleovorans is a bacterium from the genus Desulfococcus which has been isolated from mud from an oilfield near Hamburg in Germany.
Methylophaga thiooxydans is a methylotrophic bacterium that requires high salt concentrations for growth. It was originally isolated from a culture of the algae Emiliania huxleyi, where it grows by breaking down dimethylsulfoniopropionate from E. hexleyi into dimethylsulfide and acrylate. M. thiooxydans has been implicated as a dominant organism in phytoplankton blooms, where it consumes dimethylsulfide, methanol and methyl bromide released by dying phytoplankton. It was also identified as one of the dominant organisms present in the plume following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and was identified as a major player in the breakdown of methanol in coastal surface water in the English channel.
Hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria are a heterogeneous group of prokaryotes which can degrade and utilize hydrocarbon compounds as source of carbon and energy. Despite being present in most of environments around the world, several of these specialized bacteria live in the sea and have been isolated from polluted seawater.
