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The marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis feeds on oil, multiplying rapidly in the wake of oil spills, and thereby accelerating the elimination of the pollution, in many cases. It does this by producing an organic dishwashing liquid" which it uses to attach itself to oil droplets. Researchers from the University of Bonn, RWTH Aachen University, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and research center Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered the mechanism by which this "organic dishwashing liquid" is synthesized. Published in the prominent international journal Nature Chemical Biology, the research findings could allow the breeding of more efficient strains of oil-degrading bacteria."