PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Bacteria found to eat forever chemicals — and even some of their toxic byproducts

University at Buffalo study shows that strain taken from contaminated soil breaks apart the strong carbon-fluorine bonds of PFAS, as well as some of the shorter-chain PFAS left behind

Bacteria found to eat forever chemicals — and even some of their toxic byproducts
2025-01-23
(Press-News.org) BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the quest to take the “forever” out of “forever chemicals,” bacteria might be our ally. 

Most remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) involves adsorbing and trapping them, but certain microbes can actually break apart the strong chemical bonds that allow these chemicals to persist for so long in the environment.

Now, a University at Buffalo-led team has identified a strain of bacteria that can break down and transform at least three types of PFAS, and, perhaps even more crucially, some of the toxic byproducts of the bond-breaking process.

Published in this month’s issue of Science of the Total Environment, the team’s study found that Labrys portucalensis F11 (F11) metabolized over 90% of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) following an exposure period of 100 days. PFOS is one of the most frequently detected and persistent types of PFAS and was designated hazardous by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year.

The F11 bacteria also broke down a substantial portion of two additional types of PFAS after 100 days: 58% of 5:3 fluorotelomer carboxylic acid and 21% of 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate.

“The bond between carbon and fluorine atoms in PFAS is very strong, so most microbes cannot use it as an energy source. The F11 bacterial strain developed the ability to chop away the fluorine and eat the carbon,” says the study’s corresponding author, Diana Aga, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Henry M. Woodburn Chair in the Department of Chemistry, within the UB College of Arts and Sciences, and director of the UB RENEW Institute.

Unlike many prior studies on PFAS-degrading bacteria, Aga’s study accounted for shorter-chain breakdown products — or metabolites. In some cases, F11 even removed fluorine from these metabolites or broke them down to minute, undetectable levels. 

“Many previous studies have only reported the degradation of PFAS, but not the formation of metabolites. We not only accounted for PFAS byproducts but found some of them continued to be further degraded by the bacteria,” says the study’s first author, Mindula Wijayahena, a PhD student in Aga’s lab.

The work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. Other collaborators include the Catholic University of Portugal, the University of Pittsburgh and the Waters Corp.

Picky eaters learn to like PFAS

PFAS are a group of ubiquitous chemicals widely used since the 1950s in everything from nonstick pans to fire-fighting materials. 

They’re far from the meal of choice for any bacterium, but some that live in contaminated soil have mutated to break down organic contaminants like PFAS so that they can use their carbon as an energy source. 

“If bacteria survive in a harsh, polluted environment, it’s probably because they have adapted to use surrounding chemical pollutants as a food source so they don’t starve,” Aga says. “Through evolution, some bacteria can develop effective mechanisms to use chemical contaminants to help them grow.” 

The bacterial strain used in this study, F11, was isolated from the soil of a contaminated industrial site in Portugal and had previously demonstrated the ability to strip fluorine from pharmaceutical contaminants. However, it had never been tested on PFAS.

Collaborators from the Catholic University of Portugal placed F11 in sealed flasks with no carbon source aside from 10,000 micrograms per liter of PFAS. Following incubation periods of between 100 to 194 days, the samples were then shipped to UB, where analysis revealed that F11 had degraded some of the PFAS.

The elevated levels of fluoride ions detected in these samples indicated that F11 had detached the PFAS’ fluorine atoms so that the bacteria could metabolize the carbon atoms.

“The carbon-fluorine bond is what makes PFAS so difficult to break down, so to break them apart is a critical step. Crucially, F11 was not only chopping PFOS into smaller pieces, but also removing the fluorine from those smaller pieces,” Wijayahena says.

Some of the metabolites left behind still contained fluorine, but after being exposed to PFOS for 194 days, F11 had even removed fluorine from three PFOS metabolites.

“As a caveat, there could be other metabolites in these samples so miniscule that they elude current detection methods,” Aga says.

Making PFAS a desirable menu item

While UB researchers say their study is a good start, they caution that the F11 took 100 days to biodegrade a significant portion of the supplied PFAS, and there were no other carbon sources available for consumption.

The team now plans to research how to encourage F11 to consume PFAS faster, even when there are competing energy choices that could increase their growth rate.

“We want to investigate the impact of placing alternative carbon sources alongside the PFAS. However, if that carbon source is too abundant and easy to degrade, the bacteria may not need to touch the PFAS at all,” Aga says. “We need to give the F11 colonies enough food to grow, but not enough food that they lose the incentive to convert PFAS into a usable energy source.”

Eventually, F11 could be deployed in PFAS-contaminated water and soil. This might involve creating conditions to grow the strain within activated sludge at a wastewater treatment plant, or even injecting the bacteria directly into the soil or groundwater of a contaminated site, a process called bioaugmentation. 

“In wastewater- activated sludge systems, you could accelerate removal of undesired compounds by adding a specific strain to the existing bacterial consortium in the treatment plants,” Aga says. “Bioaugmentation is a promising method that has not yet been explored for PFAS remediation in the environment.”

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Bacteria found to eat forever chemicals — and even some of their toxic byproducts

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

London cabbies’ planning strategies could help inform future of AI

2025-01-23
Researchers have measured the thinking time of London taxi drivers - famous for their knowledge of more than 26,000 streets across the city - as part of a study into the future of AI route-mapping. Unlike a satnav, which calculates every possible route until it gets to the destination, researchers at the University of York, in collaboration with University College London and the Champalimaud Foundation, found that London taxi drivers rationally plan each route by prioritising the most challenging areas first and filling in the rest of the route around these tricky points. Current computational models to understand ...

More acidic oceans may affect the sex of oysters

2025-01-23
Rising carbon dioxide levels affect more than just the climate; they also affect the chemistry of the oceans. When saltwater absorbs carbon dioxide, it becomes acidic, which alters the aquatic animal ecosystem. But how exactly does ocean acidification impact animals whose genetic makeup can shift depending on environmental cues? A study published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology addresses this question through the “eyes” of oysters. Oysters, unlike mammals and birds, do not have chromosomes that dictate their sex at the ...

Transportation insecurity in Detroit and beyond

2025-01-23
        Images   More than a third of Detroit residents (36%) can't get from place to place in a safe or timely manner.    This is the main finding of a new study led by Alexandra Murphy, associate director of social science research at Mcity and assistant research scientist at U-M's Poverty Solutions, and first author Lydia Wileden, a U-M alum and assistant research professor at the University of Connecticut.    They measured this with a tool created by Murphy and her team called the Transportation Security ...

New tool enables phylogenomic analyses of entire genomes

2025-01-23
Researchers led by electrical engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a better way to perform the comparative analysis of entire genomes. This approach can be used to study relationships between different species across geological time scales.  This new approach is poised to unlock discoveries regarding how evolution has shaped present-day genomes and also how the tree of life is organized. The new method, named CASTER, is described in a paper published in Science on 23 January 2025.  CASTER ...

Uncovering the role of Y chromosome genes in male fertility in mice

Uncovering the role of Y chromosome genes in male fertility in mice
2025-01-23
Researchers at the Crick have uncovered which genes on the Y chromosome regulate the development of sperm and impact fertility in male mice. This research could help us understand why some men don’t produce enough sperm and are infertile. Males typically have one copy of the Y chromosome and one copy of the X chromosome, whereas females typically have two X chromosomes. Scientists know that the Y chromosome is essential for male fertility, but which genes are the most important and how they work is less clear. In research published today in Science, a research team at the Crick resolved this question by generating thirteen different ...

A single gene underlies male mating morphs in ruff sandpipers

2025-01-23
Male ruff sandpipers engaging in the act of mating typically fall into one of three groups, with variations in how aggressive they are and how showy their plumage is, among other factors. Now, a new study reports a single gene – HSD17B2 – drives these dramatic differences among male ruff sandpiper morphs. The findings show how evolutionary changes in a single gene's structure, sequence, and regulation can drive significant diversity within a single species. The androgen testosterone plays a key role in male reproductive development. It influences ...

Presenting CASTER – a novel method for evolutionary research

2025-01-23
In a new study involving whole-genome data, researchers present “CASTER,” a tool that uses arrangements in DNA sequences known as site patterns to infer “species trees,” which are diagrams that depict the evolutionary relationships among species. The tool, which performs with exceptional accuracy and scalability and overcomes the limitations of traditional phylogenetic methods, offers transformative potential for evolutionary research. The growing availability of genomic data has revitalized efforts to construct precise species trees and model gene tree variations. However, the methodology for utilizing genome-wide data lags behind data availability. While traditional ...

Reforestation boosts biodiversity, while other land-based climate mitigation strategies fall short

2025-01-23
Reforestation is a win-win for climate and wildlife, but large-scale afforestation and bioenergy cropping may do more harm than good, according to a new study of land-based climate mitigation strategies (LBMS) for over 14,000 species. The findings emphasize the need to ensure well-intentioned climate action does not exacerbate biodiversity loss. While reducing greenhouse gas emissions is critical, increasing atmospheric carbon removal is equally essential to effectively combat climate change. LBMS considered among the most scalable ...

Seasonal vertical migrations limit role of krill in deep-ocean carbon storage

2025-01-23
The vertical migration of Antarctic krill may play a smaller role in oceanic carbon storage than previously believed, according to a year-long study in the Southern Ocean. The findings challenge conventional assumptions about the animal’s role in deep ocean carbon sequestration and underscore the need for more nuanced biogeochemical models incorporating ecological complexity. “Antarctic krill play an important role in the biological carbon pump, but without observational data, we risk using inaccurate and misleading assumptions about behaviors that influence carbon export and ...

Child mortality has risen since pandemic, new study shows

2025-01-23
While child deaths in England fell temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have now risen to new heights, a new study from researchers at the University of Bristol and based on unique National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) data has found. The study, published in PLOS Medicine today [23 January], has shown that children were less likely to die during the pandemic lockdown (April 2020–March 2021) than at any time before or since, with 377 fewer deaths than expected from the previous year.  The number of deaths in the following year (2021-2022) was similar to before the pandemic, but in 2022−2023, there were 258 more deaths than expected from the pre-pandemic ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

Targeting FGFR2 may prevent or delay some KRAS-mutated pancreatic cancers

[Press-News.org] Bacteria found to eat forever chemicals — and even some of their toxic byproducts
University at Buffalo study shows that strain taken from contaminated soil breaks apart the strong carbon-fluorine bonds of PFAS, as well as some of the shorter-chain PFAS left behind