In the September issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Jonathan Russell and his colleagues at Yale describe how they isolated a fungus they identified as Pestalotiopsis microspora, which has a powerful appetite for polyurethane, a common plastic often winds up buried in landfills.
One of the most promising results of the study is that the fungus can live and prosper on a diet of polyurethane alone, even under oxygen-free conditions similar to those at the bottom of a landfill. This discovery could have important applications in waste reduction via bioremediation, which relies on biological processes to break down pollutants.
From the Register Citizen and Yale Alumni Magazine.
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