Alcanivorax borkumensis

Alcanivorax borkumensis is a bacterium which can use a wide variety of hydrocarbons, and is therefore able to reduce and petroleum. It thus belongs to the hydrocarbonoklastischen bacteria.

The bacteria assimilate only a few simple amino acids or sugar and can be used as energy source only hydrocarbons ( C5 -C32 ) and their derivatives, so obligate hydrogenoklastisch. The microorganism was discovered near the island of Borkum (hence the epithet borkumensis ) by scientists at the Research Centre for Biotechnology, Braunschweig, and the Technical University of Braunschweig. 2006 established scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Bielefeld University and the Technical University of Braunschweig, the base sequence of the genome of the bacterium.

The microorganism is a ubiquitous because of 40 to 50 points Alcanivorax strains were detected worldwide in the oceans. In clean sea water, the bacterium hardly occurs, but can be up to 90 percent of the total population of bacteria in oil-contaminated habitats. It is considered one of the most important oil- degrading bacteria.