Altogen Labs extensive biotechnology and pharmacology research services include the following:
- PRE-CLINICAL RESEARCH SERVICES
- Pharmacology and toxicology testing: IC50 for Tumor Cell Lines
- Xenograft Animal Service: Immunocompromised NOD/SCID Mice
- Therapeutic RNAi development: targeted siRNA, qPCR assays
- Liposome Encapsulation services: siRNA, miRNA, DNA, proteins
- ELISA and Cell-Based Assay Development (Cell Cycle, Viability)
- Apoptosis Assay: Caspase-3 and Caspase-7 Cell Line Screen
- RNAi Consulting Services: technology delevopment & evaluation
- GENERATION OF STABLE CELL LINES
- CELL BANKING
- RNA INTERFERENCE (RNAi) SERVICES
- In vivo siRNA delivery and tissue-targeting
- siRNA Transfection and RNAi Cell-based Library Screening
- Generation of Tet-inducible RNAi gene knockdown cell lines
- RNAi screen pathway analysis: siRNA and microRNA library
- RNAi manufacturing and CRO services
- PCR Cloning: shRNA-encoding vector construction
- In Vivo Stable siRNA and microRNA - Chemical modification
- Quantitation sh/siRNA-induced knockdown by qRT-PCR and WB
- Reporter gene assays and Stable RNAi cell line development
- Genome-wide siRNA and microRNA high-throughput screens
- Stable RNAi Cell Line Generation: Stable Gene Knockdown
- siRNA liposome encapsulation service
- Transient (siRNA) and stable (shRNA) transfection services
- BIOLOGY LABORATORY CRO SERVICES
- BIOREMEDIATION
- BACTERIA ID 16S SEQUENCING
Oil-degrading Bacteria
Figure 2. Degradation of Texas crude oil by natural oil-degrading bacteria. Altogen Labs strain #525712. Twenty-four (24) hour experiment (Altogen Labs).
Bioremediation: Man-made and Naturally Occurring Oil-degrading Bacteria
When it comes to degrading oil, scientists have recently learned that nothing is as effective as the tiny hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium, A. borkumensis. As such, extensive research is underway around the world to develop genetically engineered microbes to do a better job mitigating the effects of oil spills. At present, they have had little success.
According to marine microbiologist Jay Grimes of the University of Southern Mississippi, there are no current man-made microbes that are more effective than naturally occurring bacteria at utilizing hydrocarbons. The natural world is replete with a host of organisms that come together as a community to decompose oil—and no single microbe, no matter how genetically enhanced, has proven better than this natural defense.
There are oil-degrading bacteria in every ocean from the Antarctic to the Arctic, and their effectiveness varies depending upon depth and temperature. Adaptation by communities of bacteria is more efficacious in dealing with particular spills, due to their presence at existing depths and temperatures, than a so-called “superbug” because this microbe is in competition with the bacterial community that has adapted to the environment.
Still, it remains the goal of researchers throughout the world to engineer a oil-eating bacterium.
Bioremediation: Dispersants Set the Stage for Oil-degrading Bacteria
In the aftermath of the 2010 blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, millions of gallons of oil-dispersing chemicals were used to accelerate evaporation of the oil into the atmosphere. Little did scientists know at the time that by reducing the oil to tiny droplets, they were preparing a feast for billions of bacteria.
“If the oil is in very small droplets, microbial degradation is much quicker,” said microbial ecologist Kenneth Lee, director of the Center for Offshore Oil, Gas, and Energy Research with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who has been measuring the oil droplets in the Gulf of Mexico to determine the effectiveness of dispersant use. “The dispersants can also stimulate microbial growth. Bacteria will chew on the dispersants as well as the oil.”
As the last defense against the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the bacterium, A. borkumensis, quickly multiplied in numbers once dispersants were introduced to break up the slicks. In fact, the primary effect of using the more than 830,000 gallons of chemical dispersants on the oil both above and below the surface of the ocean was to break the oil into smaller droplets that the bacteria could more easily consume.
For decades, scientists have pursued genetic modifications that might enhance the ability of these microbes to degrade oil spills, whether on land or sea. However, nothing inside or outside of laboratories to date has been as effective in the bioremediation of oil as the naturally occurring A. borkumensis.
see also: Oil-degrading Bacteria | Bioremediation Products and Services | Bioremediation: Oil-degrading bacteria