Alcanivorax
Classification
Bacteria; Phylum: Proteobacteria; Class: Gammaproteobacteria; Order: Oceanospirillales; Family: Alcanivoracaceae
Species
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NCBI: Taxonomy |
- Alcanivorax balearicum
- Alcanivorax borkumensis
- Alcanivorax dieselolei
- Alcanivorax indicus
- Alcanivorax jadensis
- Alcanivorax venustensis
Description and Significance
Alcanivorax, first described in 1998, is a Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, oil-degrading marine bacterium that is found in low abundances in unpolluted environments, but quickly becomes the predominant microbes in oil-contaminated open oceans and coastal waters when nitrogen and phosphorus are not limiting. When conditions are right, Alcanivorax may make up 80-90% of the oil-degrading microbial community. As a result of their profound ability to degrade and live predominately on alkanes, as well as to become the dominant microbes in oil-contaminated areas, Alcanivorax plays a huge role in the biological cleanup of oil-contaminated environments. These oil-contaminated environments in the ocean are largely due to anthropogenic sources such as oil spills caused by tankers accidents, and cause serious ecological damage to coastal fauna and flora as well as the other inhabitants of the ocean. Microbes such as Alcanivorax provide a major route for the breakdown of these pollutants, and demonstrate how marine bacteria keep the environment in check.
Genome Structure
Describe the size and content of the genome. How many chromosomes? Circular or linear? Other interesting features? What is known about its sequence?
Cell Structure, Metabolism and Life Cycle
Interesting features of cell structure; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.
Ecology and Pathogenesis
Habitat; symbiosis; biogeochemical significance; contributions to environment.
If relevant, how does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.
References
[1] Fernandez-Martinez, Javier, Maria J. Pujalte, Jesus Garcia-Martinez, Manuel Mata, Esperanza Garay, and Francisco Rodriguez-Valera. "Description of Alcanivorax Venustensis sp. nov. and Reclassification of Fundibacter Jadensis DSM 12178T (Bruns and Berthe-Corti 1999) As Alcanivorax Jadensis comb. nov., Members of the Emended Genus Alcanivorax." International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 53 (2003): 331-338.
[2] Hara, Akihiro, Kazuaki Syutsubo, and Shigeaki Harayama. "Alcanivorax Which Prevails In Oil-contaminated Seawater Exhibits Broad Substrate Specificity For Alkane Degradation." Environmental Microbiology 5.9 (2003): 746-753.
[3] Lorenzo, Víctor De. "Blueprint of an Oil-eating Bacterium." Nature Biotechnology 24 (2006): 952-953.
[4] Schneiker, S. et al. "Genome Sequence of the Ubiquitous Hydrocarbon-degrading Marine Bacterium Alcanivorax Borkumensis." Nature Biotechnology 24 (2006): 997-1004.
[5] Yakimov, Michail M., Peter N. Golyshin, Siegmund Lang, Edward R. B. Moore, Wolf-Rainer Abraham, Heinrich Lunsdorf, and Kenneth N. Timmis. "Alcanivorax Borkumensis gen. nov., sp. nov., A New, Hydrocarbon-degrading And Surfactant-producing Marine Bacterium." International Journal of systematic bacteriology 48 (1998): 339-348.
Author
Page authored by Andrew Buss, student of Prof. Jay Lennon at Michigan State University.
