Plastic-Eating Bacteria Could Combat Pollution Problems, Scientists Hope (msn.com) 59
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:5, Interesting)
Exactly. What happens when the bacteria start... (Score:2)
...eating the plastic we DO want to keep? It's not like they know the difference, or will politely ask if we don't mind them taking a bite out of an O-ring on a Space Shuttle.
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"properly regulated with regard to environmental pollution"
Do you mean, will they end up regulating hardest the poor plastic user who can't pay to dispose of it properly and thus dumps it in on public lands, so because it is now even more toxic, does their "proper regulation" end up like putting a gate on that road to end the problem for them, thus shutting off more and more access to public land, using "environmental pollution" as yet another excuse along with "fire prevention", "public safety", "wildlife
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We already heard that story - Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain.
Life imitating art.
See Ringworld, Larry Niven. (Score:2)
What happens when the bacteria start eating the plastic we DO want to keep?
Technology fails and civilization collapses to a primitive state. See Ringworld, Larry Niven.
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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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"Let's go back to the rock and see it at 440"
That was a good film.
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don't worry, it's just the Andromeda Strain all over again ...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain
And before that:
Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters!
https://archive.org/details/mu... [archive.org]
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... 90 million tons of plastic produced each year
Going to need ** A LOT ** of bacteria to eat 90 million tons of plastic. Do we really want to give bacteria 90 millions tons of food? Have you never watched any sci-fi movies?
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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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Re:Given what an energy-dense food plastic is... (Score:4, Informative)
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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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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.
Plastic is an essential part of our technology, wood isn't. At any given moment your supermarket and local distribution centers have about 3 days of food. After that civilization starts collapsing, we experience a massive die off.
Yeah, some of us are still here. And we still have primitive things.
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Plastic is an essential part of our technology, wood isn't.
You wrote that. That's a direct quote. Would you like a chance to correct this particular absurdity?
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Plastic is an essential part of our technology, wood isn't.
You wrote that. That's a direct quote. Would you like a chance to correct this particular absurdity?
No. Wood is a nice option. Much of my furniture is wood, and so is much of my house. But that is not the "technology" I am referring to.
What I am referring to is how food grown, processed and delivered to your house. Destroy plastics and no tractors/combines, no long haul trucking, no refrigeration at the supermarket, no car to get to the supermarket, etc Wood does not have the impact of plastic. Not even close.
Our only hope would be a slow oncoming of a plastic eating bug that would give us years to
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Destroy plastics and no tractors/combines, no long haul trucking, no refrigeration at the supermarket, no car to get to the supermarket, etc
I'll give it one more shot, then you're own your own.
We have bacteria that eat wood. We still have wood. It lasts a long time. Longer than various plastics in the sun, as anyone with vinyl siding will tell you.
We have bacteria that eat nylon. We still have things made out of nylon. It can last generations.
What on earth makes you think that having a bacteria that can eat plastic would mean that we wouldn't be able to have things made out of plastic?
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Ack! The "lasts generations" bit was intended for 'wood' not 'nylon'.
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Mutant 59! (Score:3)
They're making Mutant 59: the Plastic Eaters [amazon.com]!
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They're making Mutant 59: the Plastic Eaters [amazon.com]!
Yep!
Comamonas testosteroni (Score:1)
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"
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I thought it was a new kind of pasta.
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
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Maybe we just need to learn how to make the enzyme (Score:4, Insightful)
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:1)
Please don't leave me, my love [cutesexdoll.com].
Just wondering (Score:5, Interesting)
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)
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Don't worry, there's more than enough plastic already going to the landfills to support your theory.
And evolution is too slow to solve the plastic problem before it becomes catastrophic, especially for us.
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).
What could go wrong? (Score:2)
Plastic-Eating Bacteria Could Combat Pollution Problems, Scientists Hope
Oh, right... Sure, it starts off with plastic trash, then the bacteria mutate... Mutant 59: The Plastic-Eaters [amazon.com]
Noting the many things that use plastic, like electrical wiring, hydraulic tubing, gas/liquid seals, etc...
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Plastic-Eating Bacteria Could Combat Pollution Problems, Scientists Hope
Oh, right... Sure, it starts off with plastic trash, then the bacteria mutate... Mutant 59: The Plastic-Eaters [amazon.com]
Noting the many things that use plastic, like electrical wiring, hydraulic tubing, gas/liquid seals, etc...
Actually, we've been warned about this at least three times now!
Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters (link above)
The Andromeda Strain https://www.amazon.com/Androme... [amazon.com];
Melt. https://www.amazon.com/Melt-10... [amazon.com]
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Hadn't heard of "Melt", but have seen the original movie The Andromeda Strain, and the later miniseries, but don't think I've ever read the book, maybe I'll read both, thanks.
We Use Plastic Because It Doesn't Degrade, Duh! (Score:2)
Don't eat my LEGOs (Score:2)
The new "termite" (Score:1)
GOP's gonna be pissed when it eats Hunter's Laptop, they'll have nothing to pretend to investigate.
let's hope for the best (Score:2)
and that the bacteria in question doesn't get an even more refined palate and start to munch on skin tissue... or organs that are infused with microplastics.
Will we think they're so great... (Score:2)
...when a nascent eco-terror organization starts to splash them surreptitiously around trains, cars, aircraft? How about hospitals?
It would eat most of today's civilization (Score:1)
All we need is larger sewage plants (Score:2)
What could possibly go wrong? (Score:2)
Nothing ever is free (Score:1)
Nothing ever is free, there is always a side effect a cost. I am not saying this is bad, in all likely hood it is good, I would just like to know what the downside is.