Microbe Breaks Down Toxin in Water, Soil
From Times Wire Reports
A bacterium that thrives by feeding on a common pollutant may provide a means to help clean up contaminated soil and ground water.
The newly discovered microbe derives energy by degrading trichloroethane, or TCA, a widely used industrial solvent found at half of the contaminated U.S. Superfund sites, Michigan State University researchers reported in Friday’s Science. The microbe, dubbed TCA1, breaks down trichloroethane to a less toxic substance, said biologist Baolin Sun.
