A marine bacterial community that degrades poly(ethylene terephthalate) and polyethylene

Abstract

Plastic wastes have become the most common form of marine debris and present a growing global pollution problem. Recently, microorganisms-mediated degradation has become a most promising way to accomplish the eventual bioremediation of plastic wastes due to their prominent degradation potentials. Here, a marine bacterial community which could efficiently colonize and degrade both poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polyethylene (PE) was discovered through a screening with hundreds of plastic waste associated samples. Using absolute quantitative 16S rRNA sequencing and cultivation methods, we obtained the abundances and pure cultures of three bacteria mediating plastic degradation. We further reconstituted a tailored bacterial community containing above three bacteria and demonstrated its efficient degradation of PET and PE through various techniques. The released products from PET and PE degraded by the reconstituted bacterial community were determined by the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Finally, the plastic degradation process and potential mechanisms mediated by the reconstituted bacterial community were elucidated through transcriptomic methods. Overall, this study establishes a stable and effective marine bacterial community for PET and PE degradation and sheds light on the degradation pathways and associated mechanistic processes, which paves a way to develop a microbial inoculant against plastic wastes.

Role of biofilms in the degradation of microplastics in aquatic environments

“…Their study established the possibility of using such tailored biofilm constituting marine bacterial communities for the efficient degradation of MP debris in our oceans. 111 Thus, these types of engineered biofilms can pave a better path for the biological degradation of microplastics in marine environments.…”