Oil Eating Bacteria Helps Clear the Gulf of Mexico

Since the Deepwater Horizon disastrous oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has been pretty much contained, the US was left to wonder what will happen to the billion of gallons of oil which poured into the waters for several months.

Although several containment measures have been put in place and somewhat limited the extent of the biggest man-made environmental disaster in the history of the US, Mother Nature is lending a helping hand as well, sending a new “expert” to the scene to help clear the waters.

The expert is a bacteria recently discovered by the scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, led by Terry Hazen. The team studied 200 samples collected from 17 deepwater sites in May and June and found that a bacteria from the Oceanospirillales family is slowly eating away the dispersed oil, without harming the level of oxygen in the water, as feared by some groups.

“That particular species becomes dominant in the plume. It out competes some of the other bacteria that are normally present. It can break down the oil quite well,” Hazen told Reuters, adding that some bacteria in the region are already specialized in breaking up oil because they already feed on oil which leaks from the ocean floor naturally.

Other groups however claim that Hazen hasn't found the Holy Grail of oil eating bacteria. According to aquatic toxicologist Carys Mitchelmore, what was discovered is that only some compounds of the oil are being eaten away by this bacteria, not all.