Scientists discover bacteria that has evolved to eat PET-plastic [View all]

[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.

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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.

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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???