El Poliuretano es un compuesto que hasta ahora se creía que no podía interactuar con los procesos normales de la tierra de descomposición y reciclaje de materiales. Eso es sólo porque no había encontrado el organismo correcto todavía, un hongo!
El Amazonas alberga más especies que en cualquier otra parte del mundo.
Una de ellas, traídas a casa recientemente por un grupo de la
Universidad de Yale, parece ser feliz comiendo plástico en ambientes sin aire.
El grupo de estudiantes del , Rainforest Expeditions And Laboratoy de bioquímica molecular, con profesor Scott Strobel a la cabeza, se aventuró a las selvas de Ecuador. La misión era "permitir a los estudiantes experimentar el proceso de investigación científica de manera amplia y creativa."
El grupo buscó plantas, como fuente de microorganismos que luego cultivaron.
Pues resulta, que se trajeron un nuevo hongo con un apetito
voraz por un grlobal y problemático desecho: el poliuretano.
El plástico común se utiliza para todo, desde las mangueras del jardín, a zapatos y asientos de camiones. Una vez que se entra en el ciclo de los desechos, persiste durante generaciones.
Hoy en día a alguien con vida se asegura que sus mangueras viejas y
basura de poliuretano todavía estarán aquí para saludar a sus tatara tatara nietos. A menos que algo se lo coma.(al poliuretano, no a los tatara-nietos)
 |
| Pestalotiopsis Microspora |
El hongos, Pestalotiopsis Microspora,
es el primero jamás encontrado capaz de sobrevivir con una dieta única y constante de poliuretano y - aún más sorprendente - hacer esto en
un ambiente anaerobio (sin oxígeno) medio usual en la parte mas baja de los apilamientos de basuras
El estudiante Pria Anand registró el comportamiento de los
microbios y Jonathan Russell aisló las enzimas que permiten al
organismo degradar plásticos usándola como su fuente de alimento. El equipo de Yale publicó sus hallazgos en la revista Applied and Environmental Microbiology a finales del año pasado comentando que el microbio es "una fuente
prometedora de biodiversidad de la cual observar propiedades
metabólicas útiles para la biorremediación." En el futuro, nuestros compactadores de basura podrían ser simplemente campos gigantes de hongos voraces.
 |
| Pestalotiopsis Microspora en clultivo, metabolizando poliuretano |
¿Quién sabe lo que los estudiantes nos traerán la selva la próxima vez?
Traducción de: http://goo.gl/Dht74 + Artículo del grupo de investigación
The Amazon is home to more species than almost anywhere
else on earth. One of them, carried home recently by a group from Yale
University, appears to be quite happy eating plastic in airless
landfills.
The group of students, part of Yale’s annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory with molecular biochemistry professor Scott Strobel, ventured to the jungles of Ecuador. The mission was to allow "students to experience the scientific inquiry process in a comprehensive and creative way." The group searched for plants, and then cultured the microorganisms within the plant tissue. As it turns out, they brought back a fungus new to science with a voracious appetite for a global waste problem: polyurethane.
The common plastic is used for everything from garden hoses to shoes and truck seats. Once it gets into the trash stream, it persists for generations. Anyone alive today is assured that their old garden hoses and other polyurethane trash will still be here to greet his or her great, great grandchildren. Unless something eats it.
The fungi, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is the first anyone has found to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and--even more surprising--do this in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment that is close to the condition at the bottom of a landfill.
Student Pria Anand recorded the microbe’s remarkable behavior and Jonathan Russell isolated the enzymes that allow the organism to degrade plastic as its food source. The Yale team published their findings in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology late last year concluding the microbe is "a promising source of biodiversity from which to screen for metabolic properties useful for bioremediation." In the future, our trash compactors may simply be giant fields of voracious fungi.
Who knows what the students in the rainforest will turn up next?
Source: http://goo.gl/Dht74
The group of students, part of Yale’s annual Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory with molecular biochemistry professor Scott Strobel, ventured to the jungles of Ecuador. The mission was to allow "students to experience the scientific inquiry process in a comprehensive and creative way." The group searched for plants, and then cultured the microorganisms within the plant tissue. As it turns out, they brought back a fungus new to science with a voracious appetite for a global waste problem: polyurethane.
The common plastic is used for everything from garden hoses to shoes and truck seats. Once it gets into the trash stream, it persists for generations. Anyone alive today is assured that their old garden hoses and other polyurethane trash will still be here to greet his or her great, great grandchildren. Unless something eats it.
The fungi, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is the first anyone has found to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and--even more surprising--do this in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment that is close to the condition at the bottom of a landfill.
Student Pria Anand recorded the microbe’s remarkable behavior and Jonathan Russell isolated the enzymes that allow the organism to degrade plastic as its food source. The Yale team published their findings in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology late last year concluding the microbe is "a promising source of biodiversity from which to screen for metabolic properties useful for bioremediation." In the future, our trash compactors may simply be giant fields of voracious fungi.
Who knows what the students in the rainforest will turn up next?
Source: http://goo.gl/Dht74
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario