Comparative biodegradation study of polymer from plastic bottle waste using novel isolated bacteria and fungi from marine source

Plastic particles in the ocean are typically covered with microbial biofilms, but it remains unclear whether distinct microbial communities colonize different polymer types. In this study, we analyzed microbial communities forming biofilms on floating microplastics in a bay of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the plastic particles mainly comprised polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) of which polyethylene and polypropylene particles were typically brittle and featured cracks. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and imaging by high-resolution microscopy revealed dense microbial biofilms on the polymer surfaces. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene showed that the bacterial communities on all plastic types consisted mainly of the orders Flavobacteriales, Rhodobacterales, Cytophagales, Rickettsiales, Alteromonadales, Chitinophagales, and Oceanospirillales. We found significant differences in the biofilm community composition on PE compared with PP and PS (on OTU and order level), which shows that different microbial communities colonize specific polymer types. Furthermore, the sequencing data also revealed a higher relative abundance of archaeal sequences on PS in comparison with PE or PP. We furthermore found a high occurrence, up to 17% of all sequences, of different hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria on all investigated plastic types. However, their functioning in the plastic-associated biofilm and potential role in plastic degradation needs further assessment.

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“…Vibrio spp. was also shown to degrade plastic bottle waste, when this was the only available carbon source ( Sarkhel et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

et al. 2021

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“…A carboxylic ester hydrolase from the marine Pseudomonas aestusnigri was identified to degrade PET, which had amino acid sequence homology with type IIa family of PET hydrolytase ( Bollinger et al, 2020 ). Sarkhel et al (2020) reported marine bacterium and fungus, which degraded 35 and 22% plastic waste stripes, respectively, within 6 weeks. PETase had been displayed on the yeast surface ( Pichia pastoris ) to develop the whole-cell biocatalysis for improved PET degradation efficiency at higher pH and temperature stability ( Chen et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptome-Guided Insights Into Plastic Degradation by the Marine Bacterium

et al. 2021

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Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a common single-use plastic that accumulated in the environment because of its non-degradable characteristics. In recent years, microbes from different environments were found to degrade plastics and suggested their capability to degrade plastics under varying environmental conditions. However, complete degradation of plastics is still a void for large-scale implications using microbes because of the lack of knowledge about genes and pathways intricate in the biodegradation process. In the present study, the growth and adherence of marine Bacillus species AIIW2 on PET surface instigating structural deterioration were confirmed through weight loss and hydrophobicity reduction, as well as analyzing the change in bond indexes. The genome-wide comparative transcriptomic analysis of strain AIIW2 was completed to reveal the genes during PET utilization. The expression level of mRNA in the strain AIIW2 was indexed based on the log-fold change between the presence and absence of PET in the culture medium. The genes represent carbon metabolism, and the cell transport system was up-regulated in cells growing with PET, whereas sporulation genes expressed highly in the absence of PET. This indicates that the strain AIIW2 hydrolyzes PET and assimilated via cellular carbon metabolism. A protein–protein interaction network was built to obtain the interaction between genes during PET utilization. The genes traced to degrade PET were confirmed by detecting the hydrolytic product of PET, and genes were cloned to improve PET utilization by microbial system as an eco-friendly solution.

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“…Several microorganisms, including fungi and their unique enzyme systems, are capable of degrading PET (Table 3) [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76]. Some fungal strains facilitate PET biodegradation into low molecular weight oligomers or monomers such as bis(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate (BHET) and mono(2-hydroxyethyl)terephthalate (MHET) [77].…”

Section: Fungal Enzyme-mediated Pet Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a variety of fungi possess the potential to make PET more amenable to degradation through their enzyme system. So far, an array of fungal hydrolytic enzymes has been identified and deployed for various purposes [59,62,64,81]. However, limited studies have been performed on the PET degrading capacity of fungal hydrolytic enzymes and further use of PET monomers as a carbon source for enzyme secreting fungi.…”

Section: Fungal Enzyme-mediated Pet Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal Enzymes as Catalytic Tools for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Degradation

Ahmaditabatabaei

Kyazze

Iqbal

et al. 2021

JoF

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The ubiquitous persistence of plastic waste in diverse forms and different environmental matrices is one of the main challenges that modern societies are facing at present. The exponential utilization and recalcitrance of synthetic plastics, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), results in their extensive accumulation, which is a significant threat to the ecosystem. The growing amount of plastic waste ending up in landfills and oceans is alarming due to its possible adverse effects on biota. Thus, there is an urgent need to mitigate plastic waste to tackle the environmental crisis of plastic pollution. With regards to PET, there is a plethora of literature on the transportation route, ingestion, environmental fate, amount, and the adverse ecological and human health effects. Several studies have described the deployment of various microbial enzymes with much focus on bacterial-enzyme mediated removal and remediation of PET. However, there is a lack of consolidated studies on the exploitation of fungal enzymes for PET degradation. Herein, an effort has been made to cover this literature gap by spotlighting the fungi and their unique enzymes, e.g., esterases, lipases, and cutinases. These fungal enzymes have emerged as candidates for the development of biocatalytic PET degradation processes. The first half of this review is focused on fungal biocatalysts involved in the degradation of PET. The latter half explains three main aspects: (1) catalytic mechanism of PET hydrolysis in the presence of cutinases as a model fungal enzyme, (2) limitations hindering enzymatic PET biodegradation, and (3) strategies for enhancement of enzymatic PET biodegradation.

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Comparative biodegradation study of polymer from plastic bottle waste using novel isolated bacteria and fungi from marine source

Cited by 76 publications

References 20 publications

Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

Microbial Communities on Plastic Polymers in the Mediterranean Sea

Transcriptome-Guided Insights Into Plastic Degradation by the Marine Bacterium

Fungal Enzymes as Catalytic Tools for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Degradation

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