Scientists at the Department of Industrial Microbiology at University College Dublin have discovered a bacterial strain that can detoxify styrene, a toxic byproduct of the polystyrene industry (which produces Styrofoam, among other things), and turn it into a green, biodegradable plastic.

Styrene is found in many types of industrial effluent. It causes lung irritation and muscle weakness, and affects the brain and nervous system in people and animals.

The Irish scientists used a species of bacterium, Pseudomonas putida (picture below), that occurs naturally in soil and can live on styrene. They grew it in a bioreactor with styrene as the sole source of carbon and energy. Their efforts resulted in the isolation of the styrene-eating Pseudomonas putida strain CA-3, which converts styrene into the plastic polymer PHA as a stored energy source.

The process completely removes the pollutant and the plastic made by the bacteria has a wide range of potential industrial and commercial uses such as medical implants, scaffolds for tissue engineering, wound management, drug carriers, plastic coating of cardboard and heat-resistant plastic.

“I think we’ll see a lot more of this type of technology in the future,” said O’Connor, one of the Dublin researchers. “Sustainable development and clean production through white biotechnology is the way forward. Not only bacteria to clean up the mess we make — as in oil-eating bacteria — but to prevent the mess in the first place.

From Wired News.