Posted on 04/17/2018 6:50:28 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The new research was spurred by the discovery in 2016 of the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic, at a waste dump in Japan. Scientists have now revealed the detailed structure of the crucial enzyme produced by the bug.
The international team then tweaked the enzyme to see how it had evolved, but tests showed they had inadvertently made the molecule even better at breaking down the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic used for soft drink bottles. What actually turned out was we improved the enzyme, which was a bit of a shock, said Prof John McGeehan, at the University of Portsmouth, UK, who led the research. Its great and a real finding.
The mutant enzyme takes a few days to start breaking down the plastic far faster than the centuries it takes in the oceans. But the researchers are optimistic this can be speeded up even further and become a viable large-scale process.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I KNEW there was a reason I should have taken my Leisure Suits to Goodwill. I better jump right on it before they melt off my closet hangers.
Commercially viable by 2097...maybe.
***The dashboard on your car would melt into a puddle.***
DODGE has a corner on that! My Dodge Pickup dash has shattered into a hundred pieces!
You never know when those crazy scientists are going to release their polyester-eating enzyme on an unknowing public.
Go look up “Klebsiella planticola”. Popular belief is that it was a bacteria designed to break down dead biomass and produce alcohol efficiently, but in a fluke was nearly released into the wild before discovering (supposedly) that it was unexpectedly aggressive in doing so - to a degree that would/could have cause global apocalypse (as it would proceed to just “eat” every plant). Indications are this fear was overblown (by hysterical environmentalists apparently) ... but does at least serve as a warning that mis-engineered bacteria could have vast unintended consequences.
Remember that the world DOES suffer from world-spanning diseases & other invasive species having vast impacts. Being skittish about manmade ones is valid.
they had inadvertently purposely made the molecule even better at breaking down the PET (polyethylene terephthalate People with Extreme sTupidity, i.e., liberals). Maybe next year.
Assuming it is engineered into an organism.
The story is about an enzyme, which is a protein catalyst not an organism.
One would expect it to be deployed as part of an organism though.
Besides glass, metal and wood, what have we been making our world out of since the 1950s?
I hope they have good containment!
REMEMBER FUKASHIMA ! !
Now if they can come up with one that eats liberals, I’ll march in their “March For Science” parade carrying sparklers next year.
Otherwise, Big Media wont be able to publish anti-Republican articles about the island of plastic trash in the Pacific that gets ever-so-much more gargantuan whenever a Republican is elected President.
Worse, it will dissolve the plastic tarps the homeless use, and they simply can't report on homeless unless there is a Republican in the White House!
Hmmmm can we make a sugar that attaches itself to cancer cells that carries a chuck of plastic or an a like identifier, they send this enzyme to eat it and wipe out all the cancer?
The Andromeda Strain (1970 movie)
There was another old book about this involving someone messing with a corporate system over early computers truncating their name.
Glock owners BEWARE!!!
Oh, no! Something else to keep me awake at night!
The little critters in the Ocean are already eating plastic and Oil
Hmmmm. What are bikinis made from? Sounds like I need to get some enzyme and invite a cpl of college’s cheerleaders over for a pool party.
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