Technology developed by a U. Oklahoma researcher recently helped show that bacteria are breaking down oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

GeoChip, created by botany and microbiology professor Jizhong Zhou, helped reveal thousands of genes involved in bacterial biological processes that break down hydrocarbons, part of oil contaminants, according to a press release.

Terry Hazen, leader of a research team at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, used the GeoChip in a recent study focused on the Gulf oil plume. The team took more than 200 samples from different sites in the Gulf between May 25 and June 2.

After analyzing the samples with the GeoChip and another technology, the team found that a new species of bacteria had broken down the oil, making it almost undetectable.

These findings suggest that biology could be used as an aid in controlling the amount of oil contaminants and hydrocarbons in the Gulf, according to the release.