Brevibacillus borstelensis

Brevibacillus borstelensis is a Gram-positive, aerobic, rod-shaped, endospore-forming bacterium of the genus Brevibacillus. The genome of several B. borstelensis strains have been sequenced. Brevibacillus borstelensis strain 707 is a thermophilic strain capable of degrading and using polyethylene as its sole source of carbon. This strain was shown to reduce the amount of polyethylene by 30% (30 days at 50°C) and demonstrates that nondegradable plastics like polyethylene can be degraded under appropriate conditions.