Scientists have discovered how a bacteria makes a kind of detergent, which could help eliminate some forms of pollution. The bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis lives in marine environments and feeds on oil; it can quickly reproduce after an oil spill, and helps speed up the cleanup. It's cleaning ability comes from a kind of organic dishwashing liquid that the microbe makes, and which links up with oil droplets.
Now that the microbial mechanism for making this dish liquid has been revealed and reported in Nature Chemical Biology, it may be possible to create strains of bacteria that are exceptionally efficient at cleaning oil in water.
The bacterium is even named for its special abilities. Its name loosely translates to alkane eaters of Borkum. Alkanes are long chains of hydrocarbon molecules that are a primary component of petroleum. The bacterium consumes these alkanes, which can also arise naturally in seawater. But they are also found in abundance after an oil spill.
This study analyzed the bacterial genome to learn more about the bacteria's dish liquid. They researchers found a gene cluster likely used to produce the detergent, which seems to be made of a sugar-lipid compound and the amino acid glycine.
"The molecules have a water-soluble part and a fat-soluble part," explained senior study author Professor Peter Dormann, a biochemist at the University of Bonn's Institute of Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology of Plants (IMBIO). "The bacteria settle on the surface of the oil droplets, where they form a biofilm."
When the researchers switched off the gene cluster they suspected was responsible for producing the detergent, they noticed that they bacteria were no longer able to efficiently attach to oil droplets. This confirmed that the gene cluster generates this crucial compound, which helps the microbe eat oil.
Additional work revealed more about the biochemical pathway that A. borkumensis uses to produce its detergent. It is a stepwise process involving several enzymes. Genes encode for the catalytic enzymes that power these reactions.
The investigators were even able to transfer these genes into another bacterium, which then started generating the detergent. It seems entirely possible that more efficient oil-eating microbes could be engineered, which may one day help get oil spills out of delicate marine environments.
"This natural detergent could have biotech applications as well, such as for microbial production of key chemical compounds from hydrocarbons," added Dormann.
Sources: University of Bonn, Nature Chemical Biology