Main image via The Malay Mail
When you hear that scientists have accidentally mutated some enzymes, you’d assume that it would be bad news. But, this time, it’s wonderful news.
via GIPHY
The accident was spurred by the discovery of the first ever bacteria that had naturally evolved to eat plastic, at a waste dump in Japan in 2016 (leave it to the Japanese bacteria to evolve into something useful!).
Scientists from the University of Portsmouth wanted to tweak the enzymes in the bacteria to figure out how it managed to evolve, but, instead, they ended up making the bacteria even better at eating up plastic!
via GIPHY
The lead researcher of the team, Prof John McGeehan, was quoted by The Guardian, saying “What actually turned out was we improved the enzyme, which was a bit of a shock.”
The bacteria is called Ideonella sakaiensis, and it feeds on only one type of plastic – polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or commonly known as plastic bottles!
Currently, the mutant enzymes in the bacteria take a few days to start breaking down the plastic, which is waaaay faster than “never breaking down at all”. Nevertheless, scientists are now working on ways to improve the enzymes to speed up the process and make it able to break down larger amounts.
Of course, even though the enzymes sound ultra awesome, scientists still need to ensure that the technology doesn’t solve one environmental problem – waste – at the expense of others, including public health and safety.
If all goes well though, it’s very possible that soon we’ll be able to say good riddance to plastic pollution!
Article via The Guardian
Filled Under :
*We reserve the right to delete comments that contain inappropriate content.