Bacteria Turn Toxins Into Plastic

摘要

I rish scientists have isolated a bacterium that can convert a toxic waste product into safe,biodegradable plastic.Scientists Kevin O'Connor and Patrick Ward,of the Department of Industrial Microbiology,announced that they have discovered a bacterial strain that uses styrene,a toxic byproduct of the polystyrene industry(which produces Styrofoam,among other things),as fuel to make a type of biodegradable plastic,polyhydroxyalkanoate,known as PHA.