What is meant by Alcanivorax?
Alcanivorax is a genus of alkane-degrading marine bacteria. Alcanivorax. An oil spill being treated with Alcanivorax. Scientific classification.
How does Alcanivorax borkumensis work?
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.
How does Alcanivorax borkumensis metabolize?
Alcanivorax borkumensis is a ubiquitous marine petroleum oil-degrading bacterium with an unusual physiology specialized for alkane metabolism. This “hydrocarbonoclastic” bacterium degrades an exceptionally broad range of alkane hydrocarbons but few other substrates.
What does Alcanivorax borkumensis produce?
Recently, a new class of glycolipids, glucose lipids, produced by Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2 (Yakimov et al., 1998), has been described (Abraham et al., 1998). The strain uses aliphatic hydrocarbons as its main carbon source for growth and produces an anionic glucose lipid biosurfactant.
Why is Alcanivorax borkumensis important?
Of all the Alcanivorax species and other oil-degrading microbes, Alcanivorax borkumensis is one of the most important worldwide due to the fact it produces a wide variety of very efficient oil-degrading enzymes. With this knowledge, A. borkumensis could provide a useful tool for bioremediation of oil spills.
What are the characteristics of Alcanivorax borkumensis?
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].
How does a borkumensis work?
borkumensis is a rod shaped bacterium without flagella that obtains its energy primarily from eating alkanes (a type of hydrocarbon). It is aerobic, meaning it uses oxygen to gain energy, and it is halophilic, meaning it tends to form in environments that contain salt, such as salty ocean water.
Is Alcanivorax borkumensis aerobic or anaerobic?
borkumensis is a rod-shaped bacterium without flagella that obtains its energy primarily from consuming alkanes (a type of hydrocarbon). It is aerobic, meaning it uses oxygen to gain energy, and it is halophilic, meaning it tends to live in environments that contain salt, such as salty ocean water.
Where can you find Alcanivorax borkumensis?
Description. 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].
Is Alcanivorax borkumensis helpful or harmful?
Alcanivorax borkumensis is a helpful microbe that can eat oil and hydrocarbons in the presence of oxygen – it is called an alkane- degrader.
Is Alcanivorax borkumensis harmful to humans?
There have been no reports on the bacterium being a pathogen, and since vendors that provide this strain label it as a Biosafety Level 1 organism, it is most probably not harmful to humans, but of course, this is something you should confirm with the vendors when you do purchase the strain.
How does Alcanivorax borkumensis affect the environment?
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].
What is Alcanivorax borkumensis?
[10] Yakimov, Michail M. “Alcanivorax Borkumensis Gen. Nov., Sp. Nov., a New, Hydrocarbon-degrading and Surfactant-producing Marine Bacterium.” 48.2 (1998): 339-48. Web. [11] Siegel, R. P. “Evidence Mounts of Continued Harm from the Gulf Spill.”
Is Alcanivorax SK2 a new class of glycolipids?
Recently, a new class of glycolipids, glucose lipids, produced by Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2 ( Yakimov et al., 1998 ), has been described ( Abraham et al., 1998 ). The strain uses aliphatic hydrocarbons as its main carbon source for growth and produces an anionic glucose lipid biosurfactant.
Is Alcanivorax hongdengensis an alkane-degrading bacteria?
Alcanivorax hongdengensis, an alkane-degrading bacterium isolated from surface seawater of the straits of Malacca and Singapore, produces a lipopeptide as its biosurfactant ( Wu et al., 2009 ). Strain A–11–3 is capable of utilizing n-alkanes ranging in chain lengths C8–C36.
Does Alcanivorax produce biosurfactants?
Alcanivorax strains represent one of the most studied group of n-alkane degraders able to produce biosurfactants. Recently, a new class of glycolipids, glucose lipids, produced by Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2 ( Yakimov et al., 1998 ), has been described ( Abraham et al., 1998 ).