It's a bizarre, toxin-filled microbe that could clean up sewage plants across the globe. Helen Pilcher gets on the trail of the anammox bacterium. When the good citizens of Delft complained about the smell wafting from the local yeast factory, they had no idea they had initiated the discovery of rocket-fuel-filled bacteria that would mystify microbiologists and force a rewrite of the biology textbooks. The microbes, known as anammox bacteria, are full of surprises. They flout bacterial convention byhaving tiny, sac-like compartments. They defy common sense by packing these sacs with toxic hydrazine. And they are helping to resolve a long-standing conundrum about where much of the oceans ammonia goes. Not content with this, the brightly coloured bacteria are paving the way for environmentally friendly sewage treatments.
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