polyethylene

＂ Wax is a complex mixture, but the basic bond in polyethylene, the carbon-carbon bond, is there as well, ＂ she explains, ＂ The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond ．＂

“蜡是一种复杂的混合物，但其内部也存在聚乙烯中的基本键——碳碳双键，”她解释道，“而蜡螟蠕虫进化出了一种方法或系统来破坏这种键。”

The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours, and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams, or almost 3% of it ．

研究小组在一个商业聚乙烯购物袋里放置了100个蜡螟蠕虫，12小时后，这些蜡虫消耗并分解了大约92毫克的塑料，几乎占总数的3%。

Jennifer DeBruyn, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee, who was not involved in the study, says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene ．

田纳西大学的微生物学家詹妮弗·德布鲁恩（Jennifer DeBruyn）没有参与这项研究,她说,这种蠕虫能分解聚乙烯并不奇怪。