Australian Scientists Genetically Engineer Common Fly Species To Eat More of Humanity's Waste (theguardian.com) 56
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A team of Australian scientists is genetically engineering a common fly species so that it can eat more of humanity's organic waste while producing ingredients for making everything from lubricants and biofuels to high-grade animal feeds. Black soldier flies are already being used commercially to consume organic waste, including food waste, but tweaking their genetics could widen the range of waste their larvae consume while, in the process, producing fatty compounds and enzymes. In a scientific paper, the team based at Sydney's Macquarie University outlined their hopes for the flies and how they could also cut the amount of planet-warming methane produced when organic waste breaks down.
"We are heading towards a climate disaster, and landfill waste releases methane. We need to get that to zero," Dr Kate Tepper, a lead author of the paper, said. Dr Maciej Maselko runs an animal synthetic biology lab at Macquarie University where Tepper has already started engineering the flies. Maselko said insects would be the "next frontier" in dealing with the planet's waste management problem, which weighs in at about 1 billion tons a year in food waste alone. Black soldier flies are found in all continents except Antarctica. "If you've got a compost bin, then you've probably got some," Maselko said. The fly larvae can eat double their body weight a day and, like other insects, their larvae are used for animal feed. Maselko said the flies could already do the job of consuming waste faster than microbes. The university team has created a spin-off company, EntoZyme, to commercialize their work and hopes to have the first genetically engineered flies for use in waste facilities by the end of the year. [...]
Creating a suite of genetically engineered flies would see them also produce enzymes used in animal feeds, textiles and pharmaceuticals, and fatty compounds that can be used to make biofuels and lubricants. Another proposed use is for some flies to be able to consume contaminated waste, which would then leave behind their poo that could be used as fertilizer. Tepper said flies can be engineered to deal with pollutants in several ways, including by breaking pollutants down into less toxic or inorganic compounds, evaporating them into the air or accumulating some pollutants into their bodies that can then be separated, leaving clean organic waste behind. The research has been published in the journal Communications Biology.
"We are heading towards a climate disaster, and landfill waste releases methane. We need to get that to zero," Dr Kate Tepper, a lead author of the paper, said. Dr Maciej Maselko runs an animal synthetic biology lab at Macquarie University where Tepper has already started engineering the flies. Maselko said insects would be the "next frontier" in dealing with the planet's waste management problem, which weighs in at about 1 billion tons a year in food waste alone. Black soldier flies are found in all continents except Antarctica. "If you've got a compost bin, then you've probably got some," Maselko said. The fly larvae can eat double their body weight a day and, like other insects, their larvae are used for animal feed. Maselko said the flies could already do the job of consuming waste faster than microbes. The university team has created a spin-off company, EntoZyme, to commercialize their work and hopes to have the first genetically engineered flies for use in waste facilities by the end of the year. [...]
Creating a suite of genetically engineered flies would see them also produce enzymes used in animal feeds, textiles and pharmaceuticals, and fatty compounds that can be used to make biofuels and lubricants. Another proposed use is for some flies to be able to consume contaminated waste, which would then leave behind their poo that could be used as fertilizer. Tepper said flies can be engineered to deal with pollutants in several ways, including by breaking pollutants down into less toxic or inorganic compounds, evaporating them into the air or accumulating some pollutants into their bodies that can then be separated, leaving clean organic waste behind. The research has been published in the journal Communications Biology.
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Hollywood was there first, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Meh. This one is even better, and real:
https://youtu.be/EwVRqKhM9Gg?f... [youtu.be]
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Kliban's take (Score:3)
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Anything to make them less annoying? (Score:5, Funny)
Like, genetically engineer them so that if a human being is at a picnic table, don't go near it?
Re: Anything to make them less annoying? (Score:2)
Oh, that would be great if we could engineer them to hate human sweat.
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Get them to hate flying near your eyes
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I haven't seen it since like 1980-something on HBO but didn't he proper sci-fi die at the end?
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I haven't seen it since like 1980-something on HBO but didn't he proper sci-fi die at the end?
Hollywood sci-fi is so fantasy based now I'm sure they could cook up some "a spec of DNA was left somewhere and blah blah look he still lives!"
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Think Jeff Goldblum would be up for it?
They already made a sequel [wikipedia.org]...
I'm sorry. I tried SO hard not to sink so low... (Score:5, Funny)
The experiment was deemed a failure when the flies demonstrated an overwhelming preference for Trump rallies.
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Which is impressive, given those rallies are on the other side of the world!
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Only need two of them. Do you have any idea how many invasive species the US has just from accidental rides on cargo ships?
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I'm Australian, so yes. I absolutely know how bad this is.
Oh, how are those imported eucalyptus trees going over there? Not causing any fire problems, I hope?
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LOL. Wish I'd thought of that!
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Yeah, but that was only because of Mike Pence.
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I'd forgotten that moment. The fly was the star of the whole thing. Maybe a lucky mutation?
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Re:I'm sorry. I tried SO hard not to sink so low.. (Score:4, Insightful)
And on a more serious note ... (Score:5, Informative)
The subject seems perfect for jokes and comical replies, and indeed, that is the the way the comments are going.
But, getting serious, the Slashdot title is misleading. The authors did not re-engineer the flies. This is not a report on a lab experiment.
What they did was publish a review of how insects could be used for waste management, including using them to create enzymes in support of sustainable and environmentally sound agriculture. Of various useful species, the black soldier fly has particular promise.
It is worth reading the article at Communications Biology:
https://www.nature.com/article... [nature.com]
It opened my eyes to a subject I had never thought about. It shows that there are a lot of people, scientists, bio- and agricultural engineers, who think about these subjects, research them, and have some fairly advanced knowledge, concepts, and real world implementation about how "flies-eating-poo" can be good for you and the planet.
The authors have reviewed the literature, explain the concepts, make proposals how to move forward.
I thought it was fascinating and excellent.
And, it is a relatively short article - worth the read to stay up to date on an issue of the times.
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There's also this precious illustration [nature.com] that's coining the term "Reflycling Facility"...
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The university team has created a spin-off company, EntoZyme, to commercialise their work and hopes to have the first genetically engineered flies for use in waste facilities by the end of the year.
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Eat shit and die? (Score:2)
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They'll be creating more maggots, then there will be more flies. Like fleas to worms problems. So our choices, more methane release or more bugs spreading diseases in attempts to correct world's overpopulation problem? So much shit would transform to as many flies to annoy us all until we stop shitting.
I'm also wondering if the incredibly huge number of maggots that would be needed to eat all of our garbage wouldn't contribute methane as well. Do they have a unique metabolism, or are we going to feed them Beano to keep them from making tiny little maggot farts?
But yeah, assuming we need 100 billion of these critters munching away on the world's trash, it's a pretty creepy and gross solution that carries a lot of risk, because of disease and what will it do to other species? This whole thing reminds me o
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and eventually Nature is going to impose its own fix.
yeah its called global warming, but in our wisdom we've decided that its "unnatural".... i bet hard cash with any of you tree huggers right here today that the efforts we are making now will make things worse, like they have EVERY FUCKING TIME WEVE TRIED TO CORRECT NATURE
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What could possibly go... (Score:2)
Climate disaster (Score:3)
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I'm sure you were the FIRST to consider the possibility that releasing mutant {anything} could cause "substantial damage to the ecosystem". OMG, what a great novel concept for a screenplay. You should go write it and get rich.
Plague flies (Score:2)
You'd better hope these flies don't also like biting people. Flying cholera bugs or worse.
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You'd better hope these flies don't also like biting people. Flying cholera bugs or worse.
Flies were already eating shit (and biting people).
Has nobody here ever hears the phrase,
"like flies on a shit wagon"?
What could possibly go wrong (Score:2)
On a serious note, this could go very bad very easily. These genetically engineered flies can digest more food then their regular brethren, so have a clear evolutionary advantage. I don't think you could contain them on fly farms, flies, they, well, fly. After these flies get out in the wild and start breeding, they probably very soon outcompete the regular black flies and replace them completely. And then it turns out that an unforeseen side effect of the genetic changes is making these flies a carrier to
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And Queue SUPERFLY by Curtis Mayfield.....
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And Queue SUPERFLY by Curtis Mayfield.....
From Superfly to Super Freak.
Can't touch that!
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On a serious note, this could go very bad very easily. These genetically engineered flies can digest more food then their regular brethren, so have a clear evolutionary advantage. I don't think you could contain them on fly farms, flies, they, well, fly. After these flies get out in the wild and start breeding, they probably very soon outcompete the regular black flies and replace them completely. And then it turns out that an unforeseen side effect of the genetic changes is making these flies a carrier to some deadly disease that affects humans. Even if it's cattle, that would be bad enough.
You don't even need unexpected genetic side effects. Flies that can eat more means more flies. That means, if there are any insects that flies predate on, there are now less of them. It definitely means that any creatures that predate on flies, like frogs, now have more food, so there are more of them. This could screw up ecosystems in all kinds of ways. Strange that Australia, which has so many laws to protect its ecosystems from invasive species, produces research like this.
Sorry to ruin your nightmare scenario, but the adult flies don't eat anything (they don't bite or sting either).
It's the larvae that eat, but they are easily contained due to their instinctual drive to stay near the food until it's time for them to pupate (i.e. when they are fattest). BSF farmers provide ramps for the maturing larvae (which they climb due to instinct), and the ramps end in a drop-off into a collection bucket.
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No, adult flies most certainly eat, like every other living creature that needs to sustain its life. This species apparently can survive for a very long time (by insect standards) without feeding, but will certainly feed given the chance. Adults don't eat as much as larva, maybe that's what you meant. Regardless, they do fly around, they mate and they lay eggs, and if they get out into the wild, which I don't see how you could prevent, they will do all these things.
I suppose you could kill all flies before
Umbrella Corporation (Score:2)
Looking at the other comments here I'm pretty sure I'm not only thinking that this may not end well for us...
Australia's greatest natural resource (Score:2)
Flies, flies, and more flies.
Great if someone can find a use for them, other than being an annoyance of epic proportion.
Bacteria (Score:2)
Make bacteria or fungi that can break down plastics in specific environments like sea water.
Vincent isn't going to be able to take this shit (Score:2)
Kill Me
How about mosquitos next! (Score:2)
See if we can engineer them to eat waste, instead of sucking human blood. THAT would be a real winner!
news bulletin (Score:2)
In other news, black fly larva were genetically modified to also eat politicians, known to be rich sources of organic waste products. Hungry larva tried storming Congress but were rebuffed by Capitol Police. No word by press time on hungry flies who buzzed the vice president.