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To: js1138

Compared to most plastic like things nylon is easy. It is a polyamide and finding an enzyme that can cleave a polyamide is not too tough (natural amides are very common). If you like this kind of thing and have a university library close, read the papers of E.C.C. Lin on enzyme recruitment. They date back to the 60's and 70's, before the cloning rage, but they will explain in great detail the natural modification of existing enzymes to use unnatural substances as substrates.

The bugs that eat halogenated hydrocarbons are even more interesting!


54 posted on 02/07/2005 5:45:07 PM PST by furball4paws ("These are Microbes."... "You have crobes?" BC)
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To: furball4paws
The bugs that eat halogenated hydrocarbons are even more interesting!

You mean like PCB's?
Or fluorinert, the coolant in old Cray supercomputers?

Gives a whole new meaning to computer bugs, that does! /grin

135 posted on 02/08/2005 7:59:17 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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