From 2010.igem.org

Alkane degradation

Pollution of soil and water environments by crude oil has been, and is still today, an important environmental issue. Crude oil is a complex mixture of thousands of compounds, of which alkanes constitute the major fraction. Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons of different sizes and structures. Although they are chemically very inert, several microorganisms can efficiently degrade most of them. Literature research has revealed a number of genes that are most likely responsible for this degradation. These genes will be standardized for E.coli using the BioBrick standard and characterize their alkane degrading capabilities.