Hungry bacteria eat phosphorous in Lester Prairie

Lester Prairie’s improvements at the wastewater treatment plant includes a special kind of bacteria that eats phosphorous. When I think of bacteria, I usually think of bacteria eating organic matter. Phosphorous is a mineral. It was quite a trick for scientists to figure out how to get a living thing to eat something different than what it usually does. I’m sure they did it by altering the bacteria’s genes in some way, but how did they know which gene or what to do with it? I would think that sometimes they would end up with a bacteria that would end up eating the wrong thing, like asphalt or aluminum. Lester Prairie’s wastewater treatment plant also has an anaerobic selector, which makes the bacteria even more hungry than they were before. Once the hungry bacteria is let loose for its meal of phosphorous and waste products, it finishes the job in 24 hours. These are very, very hungry bacteria. If someone had a mind to make a good horror flick, these hungry bacteria could do the job.