Re:Yale Discovers a Fungus That Eats Plastic
by semenko on Friday February 03, 2012 @04:24PM
(#3549083)
Yep --
The discovery here is an endophytic (living in a plant) fungus that can grow anaerobically, using polyurethane as its sole carbon source.
The authors suggest fungi that digest polyurethane have been known for decades. ("""Enzymatic degradation of PUR has been demonstrated by both fungi (4, 5, 6, 19) and bacteria (14, 17, 23).""")
They cite one reference from 1968, which itself implies polyurethane-degrading fungi had been known long before then:
The discovery here is an endophytic (living in a plant) fungus that can grow anaerobically, using polyurethane as its sole carbon source.
The authors suggest fungi that digest polyurethane have been known for decades. ("""Enzymatic degradation of PUR has been demonstrated by both fungi (4, 5, 6, 19) and bacteria (14, 17, 23).""")
They cite one reference from 1968, which itself implies polyurethane-degrading fungi had been known long before then:
"Fungal susceptibility of polyurethanes." Darby, R.T, and A.T. Kaplan. 1968. Appl. Microbiol. 16:900–905. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16349806