Bacteria Discovered that Eats the Oil Spill

A group of scientists, lead by Terry C. Hazen, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, published an article titled Deep-Sea Oil Plume Enriches Indigenous Oil-Degrading Bacteria in Science. The article describes the results of measurements by the scientists from samples taken from the underwater oil plume which resulted from the BP oil spill.

The under water oil plume, which contains water mixed with oil, helped deep-sea indigenous {gamma}-proteobacteria to grow and expand. These bacteria are related to microbes that are known to feed on petroleum. Based on the findings, it looks like these bacteria strive at a temperatures of around 5°C, which is about the temperature of the water and the oil plume under water in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a Science article titled Bacteria Are Gobbling Gulf Oil, Kristen Minogue writes:

"Oil-eating bacteria are flocking to the spill in droves, though it's not clear how quickly they're digesting it."

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The scientists conclude that there is the potential that these bacteria eat and digest the deep-water oil plume without substantial consumption of Oxygen. This basically means that there is the possibility that nature heals itself here and that soon the oil plume might be gone, leaving water and enough oxygen for other life in the water.

There is hope that the millions of barrels of oil that are hovering deep under water in the Gulf might be gone sooner then it was estimated a few weeks ago.