ideonella ideonella ideonella is a genus of bacteria in the family comamonadaceae. ideonella scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: pseudomonadota class: betaproteobacteria order: burkholderiales family: comamonadaceae genus: ideonellamalmqvist et al. 1994 type species ideonella dechloratans species i. azotifigens i. dechloratans i. paludis i. sakaiensis applications ideonella sakaiensis main article: ideonella sakaiensis in 2016 i. sakaiensis was shown to degrade pet, a polymer widely used in food containers, bottles and synthetic fibers. adhered to a low-grade pet film, the bacteria used two novel enzymes, petase and mhetase, to decompose the plastic into two environmentally benign substances, which served as their main food source. a colony of i. sakaiensis could completely degrade a low-grade plastic water bottle in six weeks. higher-grade pet products would require heating and cooling to weaken it before bacteria could start eating. the bacteria could also be used to reduce industrial waste during plastics manufacturing.