Preserving the Invisible - Microbial biodiversity of crude oil spill degrading microorganisms
In order to document and assess the microbial diversity at various ecosystems, particularly polluted ones in the country, samples of microbial species from 14 different oil refineries located at multiple Indian geo-climatic regions have been grown, catalogued and preserved at TERI laboratories and disseminated to both the industry and research institutes. Samples taken from polluted sites are also stored at -70 C for long-term preservation.
In the course of the preservation projects undertaken, TERI has stored 50 out of a total of more than 10,000 microbial species documented and stored by National Culture Collections. In addition to collecting the microbes, TERI also sequences their genomes to further identify and characterize them functionally. TERI researchers even came across a new microbial genera and species while scouting for microbes to freeze, which has been named Oceanotoga teriensis, after TERI and has the ability to degrade recalcitrant hydrocarbons.
The new genera has been deposited at the Japan Microbial Culture Collection and the Belgium Microbial Culture Collection, which are repositories of all the known microbial species in the world, in keeping with their standards.
In the course of the preservation projects undertaken, TERI has stored 50 out of a total of more than 10,000 microbial species documented and stored by National Culture Collections. In addition to collecting the microbes, TERI also sequences their genomes to further identify and characterize them functionally. TERI researchers even came across a new microbial genera and species while scouting for microbes to freeze, which has been named Oceanotoga teriensis, after TERI and has the ability to degrade recalcitrant hydrocarbons.
The new genera has been deposited at the Japan Microbial Culture Collection and the Belgium Microbial Culture Collection, which are repositories of all the known microbial species in the world, in keeping with their standards.