Plastic-Eating Bacteria Could Combat Pollution Problems, Scientists Hope (msn.com) 27
The Washington Post on scientists who "discovered that bacteria commonly found in wastewater can break down plastic to turn it into a food source, a finding that researchers hope could be a promising answer to combat one of Earth's major pollution problems."
In a study published Thursday in Environmental Science and Technology, scientists laid out their examination of Comamonas testosteroni, a bacteria that grows on polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, a plastic commonly found in single-use food packaging and water bottles. PET makes up about 12 percent of global solid waste and 90 million tons of the plastic produced each year... Unlike most other bacteria, which thrive on sugar, C. testosteroni has a more refined palate, including chemically complex materials from plants and plastics that take longer to decompose.
The researchers are the first to demonstrate not only that this bacteria can break down plastic, but they also illuminate exactly how they do it. Through six meticulous steps, involving complex imaging and gene editing techniques, the authors found that the bacteria first physically break down plastic by chewing it into smaller pieces. Then, they release enzymes — components of a cell that speed up chemical reactions — to chemically break down the plastic into a carbon-rich food source known as terephthalate...
The bacteria take a few months to break down chunks of plastic, according to Rebecca Wilkes [a lead author on the study and postdoctoral researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory]. As a result, if the bacteria are going to be efficient tools, a lot of optimization needs to take place to speed up the rate at which they decompose pollutants. One approach is to promote bacterial growth by providing them with an additional food source, such as a chemical known as acetate.
A senior author on the study (and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University) tells the Washington Post that "The machinery in environmental microbes is still a largely untapped potential for uncovering sustainable solutions we can exploit."
The researchers are the first to demonstrate not only that this bacteria can break down plastic, but they also illuminate exactly how they do it. Through six meticulous steps, involving complex imaging and gene editing techniques, the authors found that the bacteria first physically break down plastic by chewing it into smaller pieces. Then, they release enzymes — components of a cell that speed up chemical reactions — to chemically break down the plastic into a carbon-rich food source known as terephthalate...
The bacteria take a few months to break down chunks of plastic, according to Rebecca Wilkes [a lead author on the study and postdoctoral researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory]. As a result, if the bacteria are going to be efficient tools, a lot of optimization needs to take place to speed up the rate at which they decompose pollutants. One approach is to promote bacterial growth by providing them with an additional food source, such as a chemical known as acetate.
A senior author on the study (and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University) tells the Washington Post that "The machinery in environmental microbes is still a largely untapped potential for uncovering sustainable solutions we can exploit."
Given what an energy-dense food plastic is... (Score:4, Interesting)
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don't worry, it's just the Andromeda Strain all over again ...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain
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Going to need ** A LOT ** of bacteria to eat 90 million tons of plastic.
Not really a lot, when you compare this with the amount of other biomass currently eaten by bacteria. About 1kg of which already lives inside your guts, without harming you.
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Plastic munchy microbes. Hmmm... (Score:1)
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We'll be fine. There are bacteria that eat lots of things we don't want eaten, from wood to nylon. We're still here. We still have things. It's no big deal.
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Mutant 59! (Score:3)
They're making Mutant 59: the Plastic Eaters [amazon.com]!
Comamonas testosteroni (Score:2)
I figure this is Latin for common testosterone. We will cultivate it by extraction of the feedstock from common horny young men.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
"Comamonas testosteroni is a Gram-negative environmental bacterium capable of utilizing testosterone as a carbon source"
Where'd my lawn chairs do? (Score:1)
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Everything made of PETE -- aside from things like beverage bottles, your polyester fleece clothing, some car upholstery, parts of some solar panels.
The question I have, is how would we actually use this thing? Would we inoculate landfills and let the C testosteroni eat up the plastic in them that's PETE? Even though that's just 12% of the plastic there, that's a big concentration of a naturally rare and exotic bacteria -- one that has pathogenic potential in people, albeit mild and presently just immunoc
Maybe we just need to learn how to make the enzyme (Score:3)
Bacteria are notoriously difficult to control in an open environment. If we can synthesize the enzymes they use to break down microplastics, we can control the process and prevent bacteria from getting loose in the wild (any moreso than they will already).
Genetic Engineering (Score:2)
No! (Score:2)
Please don't leave me, my love [cutesexdoll.com].
Just wondering (Score:3)
Do the bacteria then release CO2, either while they're still alive or after they die? If so, how much of it can be captured and withheld from the atmosphere?
It would be cool to have a way of getting rid of that plastic, so long as it's at least carbon neutral. To be clear, I'm referring to real neutrality, not the 'carbon credit' kind.
Someone should write a book or something (Score:2)
I've Always Maintained Separating Plastics is Bad (Score:2)
What is the bacterial waste.. (Score:2)
Italian hormone (Score:2)
New problem vs solution to old one? (Score:2)
I for one fear that instead of finding a solution (plastics) we create a new problem (bacteria).