Scientists discover bacteria that has evolved to eat PET-plastic

[DetlefK]

http://gizmodo.com/scientists-have-discovered-a-bacteria-thats-evolved-to-1764242517

The team discovered the bacteria living on plastic items found in wastewater samples it was collecting. Called Ideonella sakaiensis, it appears to consume a diet made up exclusively of PET, which it breaks down using a pair of enzymes.

...

PET was only invented about 70 years ago. That means the bacteria must have evolved the ability to consume the plastic over the intervening decades.

...

The team is obviously excited about the prospect of using the bacteria to clean up the planet. There are, after all, millions of tons of waste PET on the surface of our planet—on landfills and in our seas. But right now, the bacteria are inefficient: New Scientist reports that it takes “6 weeks at 30°C to fully degrade a thumb-nail-sized piece of PET.” That’s because the bacteria multiplies relatively slowly, so it may be possible to genetically engineer a bacterium that combines the speed of multiplication of something like E.coli with the plastic-chomping abilities of Ideonella sakaiensis.




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Wasn't this the plot of the latest "Planet of the Apes"-franchise? A useful micro-organism gets out-of-control when the scientist tampers with their genes to make them more effective?

How about we just dump the bacteria in the landfills and wait instead of going the risky route???

[deathrind]

1. I agree.

Humans have a history of woefully underestimating the ripple effect when tinkering with nature.

[Mbrow]

2. Hey lets modify it! What could possibly go wrong?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. Niven's Ringworld.

Fell into ruins because of a bioweapon that was designed to eat the superconductor used everywhere. We're using plastics everywhere, and this is the second type of thing we've now read about that eats one form of plastic or another.

[phantom power]

4. Fun fact, before Niven's superconductor eating fungus, he also mentioned that

humans had to stop using styrofoam because some bacteria evolved the ability to eat it. I can't find the reference any more.

[progressoid]

5. Evolved.

You silly people. It didn't evolve, God made it for us!

Praise Jeebus.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. I don't know about Planet of the Apes, but it was the plot of BBC 1970 scifi 'Doomwatch'

Based on the classic sci-fi series Doomwatch, Mutant 59 imagines one of the most terrifying tragedies that modern science could create, a chilling and topical story of what happens when scientific research goes wrong and spreads terror through London (and endangers the world). When an airplane crashes the Ministry of Transport investigates, what caused it to fall out of the sky and could it happen again? Slowly they discover that science has unleashed a genetically engineered bacteria that feeds on (and destroys) all plastic materials...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mutant-59-The-Plastic-Eater-ebook/dp/B0081RLFEY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomwatch

An early role for Robert Powell.

[jakeXT]

7. So you'll have to put antibiotics into your PET water bottle /nt

[Goblor]

8. So we can continue

to make and use disposable plastics! Cool! Do those bacteria live in the ocean too... (?)