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Pseudomonadota is a major phylum of Gram-negative bacteria. The renaming of several prokaryote phyla in 2021, including Pseudomonadota, remains controversial among microbiologists, many of whom continue to use the earlier name Proteobacteria, of long standing in the literature. The phylum Proteobacteria includes a wide variety of pathogenic genera, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Yersinia, Legionella, and many others. Others are free-living (non-parasitic) and include many of the bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation.
Bonny Light oil was found at Oloibiri in the Niger delta region of Nigeria in 1956 for its commercial use. Due to its features of generating high profit, it is highly demanded by refiners. Bonny light oil has an API of 32.9, classified as light oil. It is regarded as more valuable than the other oils with lower API as more high-value products are produced in the refinement. However, in Nigeria, problems due to oil spillage caused by vandalism, affects both human and the ecosystem in detrimental ways. Some experiments on animals and soil are done to figure out those impacts on organisms.
Gammaproteobacteria is a class of bacteria in the phylum Pseudomonadota. It contains about 250 genera, which makes it the most genus-rich taxon of the Prokaryotes. Several medically, ecologically, and scientifically important groups of bacteria belong to this class. It is composed by all Gram-negative microbes and is the most phylogenetically and physiologically diverse class of Proteobacteria.
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.
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.
Corexit is a product line of oil dispersants used during oil spill response operations. It is produced by Nalco Holding Company, an indirect subsidiary of Ecolab. Corexit was originally developed by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. Corexit is typically applied by aerial spraying or spraying from ships directly onto an oil slick. On contact with the dispersant, oil that would otherwise float on the surface of the water is emulsified into tiny droplets and sinks or remains suspended in the water. In theory this allows the oil to be more rapidly degraded by bacteria (bioremediation) and prevents it from accumulating on beaches and in marshes.
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.
An oil dispersant is a mixture of emulsifiers and solvents that helps break oil into small droplets following an oil spill. Small droplets are easier to disperse throughout a water volume, and small droplets may be more readily biodegraded by microbes in the water. Dispersant use involves a trade-off between exposing coastal life to surface oil and exposing aquatic life to dispersed oil. While submerging the oil with dispersant may lessen exposure to marine life on the surface, it increases exposure for animals dwelling underwater, who may be harmed by toxicity of both dispersed oil and dispersant. Although dispersant reduces the amount of oil that lands ashore, it may allow faster, deeper penetration of oil into coastal terrain, where it is not easily biodegraded.
The Health consequences of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are health effects related to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. An oil discharge continued for 84 days, resulting in the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, estimated at approximately 206 million gallons. The spill exposed thousands of area residents and cleanup workers to risks associated with oil fumes, particulate matter from Controlled burns, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and heavy metals.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred between 10 April and 19 September 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. A variety of techniques were used to address fundamental strategies for addressing the spilled oil, which were: to contain oil on the surface, dispersal, and removal. While most of the oil drilled off Louisiana is a lighter crude, the leaking oil was of a heavier blend which contained asphalt-like substances. According to Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, this type of oil emulsifies well. Once it becomes emulsified, it no longer evaporates as quickly as regular oil, does not rinse off as easily, cannot be broken down by microbes as easily, and does not burn as well. "That type of mixture essentially removes all the best oil clean-up weapons", Overton said.
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.
Methylomonas scandinavica is a species of Gram-negative gammaproteobacteria found in deep igneous rock ground water in Sweden. As a member of the Methylomonas genus, M. scandinavica has the ability to use methane as a carbon source.
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.
Azotobacter salinestris is a Gram-negative, nitrogen-fixing bacterium; its specific name, salinestris, comes from the Latin words salinus meaning saline and estris which means "living in". It can be found living in soil or marine habitats as single cells or in chains of six to eight cells. This organism is motile at younger stages, but loses its flagella at older stages. This species is known for its potential use in bioremediation.
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.
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.
Petrobactin is a bis-catechol siderophore found in M. hydrocarbonoclasticus, A. macleodii, and the anthrax-producing B. anthracis. Like other siderophores petrobactin is a highly specific iron(III) transport ligand, contributing to the marine microbial uptake of environmental iron.
References
- ↑ Garrity, George M. (2005). Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology, Volume Two: The Proteobacteria, Part B: The Gammaproteobacteria New York: Springer ISBN 0-387-24144-2
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Gauthier; Lafay; Christen; Fernandez; Acquaviva (October 1992). "Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus gen. nov., sp. nov., a new, extremely halotolerant, hydrocarbon-degrading marine bacterium". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 42 (4): 568–576. doi: 10.1099/00207713-42-4-568 . PMID 1382536.
- 1 2 "Marinobacter aquaeolei". Microbe Wiki. Kenyon College. July 7, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- 1 2 3 Hamdan, Leila; Fulmer, Preston (March 2011). "Effects of COREXIT® EC9500A on bacteria from a beach oiled by the Deepwater Horizon spill" (PDF). Aquatic Microbial Ecology. 63 (2): 101–109. doi: 10.3354/ame01482 . Archived (PDF) from the original on January 24, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- 1 2 Huu, Nguyen; Denner, Ewald; Ha, Dang; Wanner, Gerhard; Stan-Lotter, Helga (April 1999). "Marinobacter aquaeolei sp. nov., a halophilic bacterium isolated from a Vietnamese oil-producing well". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 49 (2): 367–375. doi: 10.1099/00207713-49-2-367 . PMID 10319457.
- 1 2 François Jacob Institute of biology. "Marinobacter Hydrocarbonoclasticus ATCC49840". Genoscope - Centre National De Séquençage. Commissariat à l´énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
- ↑ Barbeau, Katherine; Zhang, Guangping; Live, David; Butler, Alison (December 27, 2001). "Petrobactin, a Photoreactive Siderophore Produced by the Oil-Degrading Marine Bacterium Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 124 (3): 378–379. doi:10.1021/ja0119088. PMID 11792199 . Retrieved October 5, 2020.