Loosely translated into English, the Latin name of the bacterium is “alkane eaters from Borkum.” Indeed, the name says it all, for alkanes are chains of hydrocarbons that exist in petroleum in large quantities. A. borkumensis feeds on energy-rich chains which occur naturally in the sea—and on non-naturally-occurring chains like those dispersed in oil spills. In many cases the bacteria multiply rapidly, thereby accelerating the pollution-clearing process.
Participating institutions and funding: The University of Bonn, RWTH Aachen University, the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Forschungszentrum Jülich were involved in the research study, which was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).