Alcanivorax borkumensis is an alkane-degrading marine bacterium which naturally propagates and becomes predominant in crude-oil-containing seawater when nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients are supplemented.

[2][3] A. borkumensis is a rod-shaped bacterium without flagella that obtains its energy primarily from consuming alkanes (a type of hydrocarbon).

Coping with high concentrations of sodium ions (i.e. in ocean water), and protecting against the UV radiation experienced on the surface of the earth are both important for the A. borkumensis bacteria, and its genome contains ways to solve both of these problems.

It is more common in oceanic areas containing petroleum oil (whether from spills, natural fields, or other sources), although it can be found in small amounts in unpolluted water.

A. borkumensis outcompetes other species of the Alcanivorax genus, likely due to its highly flexible DNA and metabolism.

This is due to the lack of genes that code for active or passive carbohydrate transporters, hence the inability to consume monomeric sugars.

For this, A. borkumensis have a myriad of transport proteins that allow fast uptake of key nutrients that are limiting in the environment.

[9] To increase the growth rate of a population of A. borkumensis bacteria, phosphorus and nitrogenous compounds can be added to the environment.

The substances that make up the biosurfactant of A. borkumensis can reduce the surface tension of water, which helps with the degradation of oil.

Whereas most organisms use sugars or amino acids for their source of carbon/energy, A. borkumensis uses alkanes, a type of hydrocarbon, in its metabolic process.

[1] By disrupting an acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) thioesterase gene, Sabirova and colleagues were able to mutate the organism to hyper-produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).

They were then able to recover the large amounts of PHA that were released by mutant Alcanivorax from the culture mediums with relative ease.