Plastic bottles convert to anti-spicy molecules like the paracetamolthanks to Escherichia coli bacteria modified: it is the result that opens the way to New strategies For recycle Waste in useful substances, published in the magazine Nature Chemistry by the research group led by the University of Edinburgh. According to the authors of the study, the next steps will be able to study other types of bacteria and other plastic waste.
The problem of waste generated by objects in plastic is in constant growththerefore it Development of new methods to recycle them is one priority For the future. With this goal in mind, the researchers coordinated by Stephen Wallace turned to the so -called ‘metabolic engineering‘, who try to exploit the chemical reactions normally used by cells to produce New molecules. So far it was uncertain if this method could be applied to the recycling of plastic, but theexperiment on modified bacteria show that it is possible Not only degrade plastic, but to obtain reusable substances.
The researchers used a particular chemical reaction call ‘REARRY OF LOSSEN‘, which can take place in the E. coli bacterium and that normally produce a compound essential for the cellular metabolism. The researchers degraded the PET, that is, the material of which the plastic bottles are composed, until the starting molecule of this reaction is obtained, which was therefore therefore metabolized from the cell. This mechanism can also generate paracetamolwith one surrender of 92%.
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