A study has found an unknown microbial species that can be easily sourced and has great potential to break down diesel or gasoline-contamina
Around 99% of the microbes of the trillion species of bacteria, protozoa and fungi (not including viruses) that inhabit the Earth remain undiscovered, according to research led by Kenneth J. Locey of Rush University Medical Center that was published in Pnas six years ago. This means that any investigation in an unstudied environment has a good chance of finding a new piece of this enormous biological puzzle. And that’s exactly what happened when Spanish researchers from the Institute of Integrative Biology (I²SysBio) in the Valencia region looked for microorganisms below the lids of the fuel deposits of diesel and gasoline cars. Not only did the team discover “specific micro niches for microbial life,” but they also found that these sites contain an unknown species of bacteria of the genus Isoptericola with “great potential for fuel biodegradation of diesel or gasoline-contaminated environments.”
Bioremediation is a process that uses natural elements, such as microorganisms, plants and microbes, to detoxify contaminants in soil and other environments. Researchers, including Erko Stackebrandt, a microbiologist at the University of Munich, among others, had discovered that bacteria of the genus Isoptericola could be used for bioremediation. But until now, these strains had been studiedin places where fuel or oil spills had occurred. The latest Spanish study, published in the Nature publication Npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, however, looked for possible fuel eaters in everyday environments where the presence of gasoline and diesel is permanent. The objective was to find microorganisms that do not show their bioremediation potential in accidental scenarios such as oil spills, but those have adapted to everyday environments, meaning they will be more effective in decontamination projects.
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