Bioremedlation: A New Tool For Marine Oil Spill Response?

For years, even decades, microbial biologists have been aware of the ability of some naturally-occurring microorganisms to degrade certain fractions of petroleum into simpler substances. This process is known as biodegradation and refers specifically to the natural process whereby bacteria or other microorganisms alter and break down organic molecules into other substances, such as fatty acids and carbon dioxide. The possibility that this natural process could be harnessed as a practical oil spill response technology motivated some of the early investigations into the factors that affect biodegradation, the kinds of hydrocarbons capable of being degraded by microorganisms, rates of biodegradation, and the species and distributions of microorganisms involved in biodegradation. Research into these topics has led to the development of several types of methods for using microorganisms to restore sites polluted by oil. Collectively, they are known as bioremediation techniques, and they involve the addition of materials to contaminated environments to cause an acceleration of the natural biodegradation process. Fertilization is the bioremediation method of adding nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to a contaminated environment to stimulate the growth of indigenous microorganisms. This approach is also known as nutrient enrichment. Seeding refers to the addition (usually of non-native) microorganisms to a spill site. Such microorganisms mayor may not be accompanied by nutrients. Current seeding efforts use naturally occurring microorganisms, but seeding with genetically engineered microorganisms may also be possible. Much less is known about the potential of using this type organism, however, and this approach is not now being considered for remediation of oil spills. Are these bioremediation technologies useful for cleaning up marine oil spills? And if so, what might their importance be relative to other oil spill response technologies? In precisely what situations could they be useful?