WHATEVER next? Environmentalists are welcoming research that could eventually
mean genetically modified bacteria cleanse the environment. The altered bugs
will help to clear chemicals that contaminate the soil of some derelict
industrial “brownfield” sites.
Chemists at Oxford University tweaked a gene from Pseudomonas putida,
a common soil bacterium, to make an enzyme that attacks three soil pollutants
called 1,2-dichlorobenzene, pentachlorobenzene and 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene. These
chemicals are used as solvents in the chemicals industry and as raw materials
for making pesticides and herbicides. Chlorobenzenes contaminating derelict
industrial sites can usually only be removed by expensive methods such as
incinerating…
