I think this does mean that plastic things could soon rot. It could be pretty interesting based on how it spreads. Call a remediation company because you noticed the plastic-mold growing in your house somewhere.
Makes me wonder if we're building towards another extinction/oxygen catastrophe type of event. Not one where the microplastics themselves are the primary driver, but because microplastics are not renewable in the environment without humans. With solar energy transitions, greater pollution awareness, and a population that's shrinking or leveling off, what will happen to all of the microorganisms which spent a great deal of energy evolving ways to metabolize plastics that suddenly lose that source of energy? They're suddenly less fit for their niche.
Or in a different area of concern, what happens to the plastic economy when plastics are no longer useful because they'll be decomposed too quickly? Sanitary packaging for medical supplies come to mind.
I don't think they are unlearning how to eat other things. It's humans who will have to find a new way to build cars, planes, boxes, bottles and electronics. Think how expensive it will be once car tire or fiber-optic cable eating bacteria hits a major city. Your access to fresh food will be limited and you don't even have a single apple tree.
Just because they can digest PET does not mean they cannot digest other things. Being able to switch between food sources as they become more or less abundant is a very common adaptation.
The lifespan of microorganisms is sufficiently short (in most cases) that you’re turning over the entire population regularly - the reason you see such rapid evolution in microorganisms is because they do an enormous amount of dying and procreating anyway. As such, it’s hard to really quantify what a microorganism extinction event would look like in a way that meaningfully distinguishes it from any random Tuesday.
I think environmental conservation efforts would have to be fairly successful for your concern.
Fortunately, the US will see that possibility isn't very likely. In the 1980s, there was growing concern about the use of plastic and styrofoam one-time packaging. Both still widely used today…
On an evolutionary timescale, our plastic era probably won’t last very long, right? The byproducts might, but I guess if something learns to eat them, not so much.
Actually it seems pretty crazy that they are figuring it out so quickly (guess there’s lots of energy bound up in those molecules).
I guess we’ll have to go back to our old friends glass and copper. Petrochemicals were a fad anyway; glass and copper have been with us the whole time.
Well yeah, if we insist on continuing to burn our limited supply of hydrocarbons, soon(ish) we won't have enough for making plastics either. Or plastics will become prohibitively expensive...
This is not true in a practical sense. There is a lot of petrochemicals still out there and our ability to recover marginal reserves keeps improving. I was really into the idea of peak oil when I was younger but it really hasn't panned out. Rather, if we continue to using oil, we'll cook ourselves and drown ourselves in plastic.
>what will happen to all of the microorganisms which spent a great deal of energy evolving ways to metabolize plastics that suddenly lose that source of energy?
As the article implies, microorganisms evolve relatively quickly. So the answer is, they would evolve to consume another source of energy. (As has happened for the subjects of the article in the opposite direction.)
Yeah, I really look forward to seeing more research on the ability of these PETase genes to spread. The article touched on it briefly, but it’d be great to have more insight on how much of this is due to HGT vs. something likely to originate de novo across species.
> That makes me wonder if we'll soon see mammals with gut microbiomes that can digest microplastics.
On a less serious note, my cat is deadset on this accomplishment.
Probably not. All these critters definitely eat other stuff as well. And their non-plastic-eating cousins are probably still around anyway, and would just resume their former role if the plastic eaters died off.
A lot of cities are in the process of replacing lead pipes with plastic. Replacing them again is going to be a huge burden, especially with an increasingly aging population and fewer people to do manual labor unless we have some sort of good automation for manual labor.
I'm guessing evolution of these is driven more by microfibers from polyester cloth (which is also PET) rather than plastic bottles. The fibers have much higher surface area for bacteria to attack.
It doesn't really eat the nuclear waste, it "just" feeds on the radioactive energi, so it doesn't speed up the decay. But you can use them as a radiation shield.
That just gives you radioactive bacteria who might crawl around a bit and spread the radioactivity. You can't get rid of a nuclear problem by chemistry.
I've often wondered about this. Does the chemistry imply the energetics of this would be less favourable than other organic decomposition?
This could be bad too I suppose? Pipes and other chemical containment vessels might come under attack.
I think this does mean that plastic things could soon rot. It could be pretty interesting based on how it spreads. Call a remediation company because you noticed the plastic-mold growing in your house somewhere.
"Dammit the TV's rotting!"
If life found a way to eat wood, surely it will find one of our plastics appetizing? Turns out, yes.
https://medium.com/@datavector/why-plastic-eating-bacteria-e...
It's no surprise that microorganisms evolve quicker to adapt to environmental changes. (At least for evolutionary / genetic changes).
That makes me wonder if we'll soon see mammals with gut microbiomes that can digest microplastics.
Makes me wonder if we're building towards another extinction/oxygen catastrophe type of event. Not one where the microplastics themselves are the primary driver, but because microplastics are not renewable in the environment without humans. With solar energy transitions, greater pollution awareness, and a population that's shrinking or leveling off, what will happen to all of the microorganisms which spent a great deal of energy evolving ways to metabolize plastics that suddenly lose that source of energy? They're suddenly less fit for their niche.
Or in a different area of concern, what happens to the plastic economy when plastics are no longer useful because they'll be decomposed too quickly? Sanitary packaging for medical supplies come to mind.
I don't think they are unlearning how to eat other things. It's humans who will have to find a new way to build cars, planes, boxes, bottles and electronics. Think how expensive it will be once car tire or fiber-optic cable eating bacteria hits a major city. Your access to fresh food will be limited and you don't even have a single apple tree.
Just because they can digest PET does not mean they cannot digest other things. Being able to switch between food sources as they become more or less abundant is a very common adaptation.
The lifespan of microorganisms is sufficiently short (in most cases) that you’re turning over the entire population regularly - the reason you see such rapid evolution in microorganisms is because they do an enormous amount of dying and procreating anyway. As such, it’s hard to really quantify what a microorganism extinction event would look like in a way that meaningfully distinguishes it from any random Tuesday.
I think environmental conservation efforts would have to be fairly successful for your concern.
Fortunately, the US will see that possibility isn't very likely. In the 1980s, there was growing concern about the use of plastic and styrofoam one-time packaging. Both still widely used today…
On an evolutionary timescale, our plastic era probably won’t last very long, right? The byproducts might, but I guess if something learns to eat them, not so much.
Actually it seems pretty crazy that they are figuring it out so quickly (guess there’s lots of energy bound up in those molecules).
I guess we’ll have to go back to our old friends glass and copper. Petrochemicals were a fad anyway; glass and copper have been with us the whole time.
Though sand is actually becoming a problem commodity to source now, too:
https://www.clarknexsen.com/the-global-sand-crisis-examining...
https://scitechdaily.com/the-sand-crisis-no-one-is-talking-a...
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is...
Well yeah, if we insist on continuing to burn our limited supply of hydrocarbons, soon(ish) we won't have enough for making plastics either. Or plastics will become prohibitively expensive...
This is not true in a practical sense. There is a lot of petrochemicals still out there and our ability to recover marginal reserves keeps improving. I was really into the idea of peak oil when I was younger but it really hasn't panned out. Rather, if we continue to using oil, we'll cook ourselves and drown ourselves in plastic.
The eventual end goal should probably be production of hydrocarbons using solar power and CO2/water. In other words, synthetic photosynthesis.
>what will happen to all of the microorganisms which spent a great deal of energy evolving ways to metabolize plastics that suddenly lose that source of energy?
As the article implies, microorganisms evolve relatively quickly. So the answer is, they would evolve to consume another source of energy. (As has happened for the subjects of the article in the opposite direction.)
Yeah, I really look forward to seeing more research on the ability of these PETase genes to spread. The article touched on it briefly, but it’d be great to have more insight on how much of this is due to HGT vs. something likely to originate de novo across species.
> That makes me wonder if we'll soon see mammals with gut microbiomes that can digest microplastics.
On a less serious note, my cat is deadset on this accomplishment.
It might be a bad idea to digest plastics. If they get broken down in the gut, they'll release all those plasticisers and things into the body.
Evolution would figure that out over time with trial and error. We could instead get mammals with plastic nails/claws/hooves instead of keratin
e.g. keratin and cellulose are structural polymers not too different from materials like PET.
Can somebody do the napkin math on an estimate for how long for us to get plasticized hair and nails and teeth?
So we could end up in a situation where we do ecological harm if we stop using plastics.
Probably not. All these critters definitely eat other stuff as well. And their non-plastic-eating cousins are probably still around anyway, and would just resume their former role if the plastic eaters died off.
As George Carlin suggested, maybe the only reason why the planet allowed us to evolve was to that it could have plastic: https://youtu.be/rld0KDcan_w?si=0h4qZFzO4S9ijwT0&t=204
the prophecy is true - https://youtu.be/rld0KDcan_w?si=WZkF45Ct-wsVCUWq&t=188
Life finds a way. Add a potentially usable food source in big enough numbers and the ones that take advantage of that will thrive.
This implies in the future plastic will rot like wood.
Yup. In most cases, not a big deal. Plumbing, however, is going to be a nightmare.
A lot of cities are in the process of replacing lead pipes with plastic. Replacing them again is going to be a huge burden, especially with an increasingly aging population and fewer people to do manual labor unless we have some sort of good automation for manual labor.
Protect your plastics with aluminum foil
I'm guessing evolution of these is driven more by microfibers from polyester cloth (which is also PET) rather than plastic bottles. The fibers have much higher surface area for bacteria to attack.
Okay bacteria now do nuclear waste
We already have radiotrophic fungus, found near Chernobyl. Interestingly they appear to use melanin to absorb and utilise energy from the radiation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus
It doesn't really eat the nuclear waste, it "just" feeds on the radioactive energi, so it doesn't speed up the decay. But you can use them as a radiation shield.
That just gives you radioactive bacteria who might crawl around a bit and spread the radioactivity. You can't get rid of a nuclear problem by chemistry.