The bacteria were detected as part of the findings of the Gulf of Mexico Research Consortium (CIGOM), where Liliana Pardo Lopez and Fidel Alejandro Sanchez Flores, both researchers at the iBT, collaborate.
Supported by the Coordination of Technology Linking and Transfer, the researchers review in detail the effectiveness of microorganisms in bioremediation of oil spills, contaminated water bodies, clean up hydrocarbon contamination, and possibly degrade plastics in water.
We already have a range of products that we can begin to develop, from those to remediate bodies of water, to the potential to restore an oil spill. All with the package of bacteria that have been isolated from the Gulf of Mexico and that is finally part of our contribution as UNAM researchers, said Sanchez Flores.
The tests consist of checking efficiency in sea water and sand.
"Today we have PhD students at the IBt who are proving that these bacteria can also degrade plastics, we are working with different types of plastics. I am currently in France doing a sabbatical year and working on the colonization and degradation of plastics by bacteria living in the Mediterranean and then be able to continue transferring technological packages, but now for the degradation of plastics in the oceans, which is a problem that affects the whole planet,” added Pardo Lopez.
For six years, both specialists have been participating in the CIGOM oceanographic campaigns, together with researchers from CICESE (Ensenada), the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos, and CINVESTAV-Mérida, With the objective of knowing what type of microorganisms inhabit the Gulf of Mexico and which today can be used as tools to bioremediate contaminated beaches or waters.
“It would be excellent if bioremediation, which is an environmentally friendly technology, could be used more frequently, we believe there is a good future with this; that is to say, to treat pollutants such as hydrocarbons, plastics, organic matter, metals, etc. It would be very good if more researchers joined this effort,” said Pardo Lopez.
Scientifically speaking, added the institutional leader to the Consortium, the results were extraordinary, the first of them is the Gulf of Mexico Environmental Baseline Atlas which is a great stock for the country, we published 11 volumes on meteorology, fish, mammals, seagrass, etc. and one of them is dedicated to bacteria.
This effort is unprecedented, as it managed to get 300 researchers from the best institutions in the country to work together to get to know the Gulf a little more.
The researchers analyzed the microorganisms with a technique called metagenomics, which allows them to extract DNA, and several more strains (sets of microorganisms belonging to the same species and coming from a single cell) were taken to the laboratory to sequence their genomes, classify them, and Today the iBT has a database of 300 isolated bacteria, of which 43 have been identified as potentially being able to degrade oil.
The first step was the generation of knowledge, later a technological maturation was achieved with this package of 43 bacteria, which was protected by the UNAM.
To this end, together with CICESE experts and mining technicians, UNAM researchers created Deep Sea Genomics S.A. de C.V., In this way the National University was able to transfer the technological package to the company with which they carry out the first pilot tests of the effectiveness of these bacteria in Sonora.
Regarding the safety of using micro-organisms for the degradation of oil, hydrocarbons or other pollutants, Sanchez Flores explained that the objective is to allow them to grow in the laboratory and to carry out pathogenicity tests, in order to be absolutely sure that they will not harm the flora, fauna and human beings, and then apply them without risk in the affected area.
While the researchers have circumsated obstacles along the way, the tasks have not been easy.
