Bacteria in Canadian Arctic seawater can help clear up oil spills: Study

Relevance: Bioremediation using bacteria to address oil spills in the ocean

What is the news?

A new study has confirmed that bacteria with nutrients in the cold seawaters of the Canadian Arctic can help decompose diesel and other petroleum oil after oil spills. These accidents deteriorate the coastal water quality and choke marine ecosystems and poses health hazards for the indigenous population who depend on seafood.

Bioremediation using bacteria

• Scientists found that bioremediation using bacteria such as Paraperlucidibaca, Cycloclasticus, Oleispira, Thalassolituus Zhongshania and some others helped remove several classes of contaminants.
• A fraction of the leaked fuels sink to the bottom of the sea and settles on the floor. Stimulating the benthic microbes that live at this depth of the ocean is important for effective decomposition of the pollutants present there.

What is an oil spill?

Oil spill is a form of pollution described as the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activities.

Impact of an oil spill

Oil trade through the sea route and potential production have made spills common.

• These accidents deteriorate the coastal water quality and choke marine ecosystems.
• Spilled oil can penetrate into the structure of the plumage of birds and the fur of mammals, reducing their insulating ability and making them more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and much less buoyant in the water
• Oil pollution poses health hazards for the indigenous population who consumer fish as part of their diet.

Other examples

Below are some examples of other such oil-cleaning bacteria:

• NY3: The “NY3” has an “extraordinary capacity” to produce rhamnolipids that can help break down oil and then degrade some of its most serious toxic compounds.
• Geobacter bacteria: They were the first organisms found to oxidise organic compounds to carbon dioxide. They can convert the organic compounds in oil spills into carbon dioxide.
• Alcanivorax borkumensis: This rod-shaped microbe lives in all the world’s oceans with a special preference for oil-polluted areas, as it uses hydrocarbon molecules for food.
• Oilzapper: Developed by TERI & partly supported by the DBT (Department of Biotechnology), the Oilzapper is essentially a cocktail of five different bacterial strains that are immobilized and mixed with a carrier material (powdered corncob). The Oilzapper feeds on hydrocarbon compounds present in crude oil and oily sludge (a hazardous hydrocarbon waste generated by oil refineries) and converts them into harmless CO2 and water.

Terms to know:

• Bioremediation