Engineering a microbial ‘trap and release’ mechanism for microplastics removal

A review on microplastic pollution in the mangrove wetlands and microbial strategies for its remediation

“…The polymeric MPs are specifically digested by microbial enzymes into component monomeric units which serve as a carbon source for the degrading microorganisms (Ganesh et al 2020;Bollinger et al 2020;Liu et al 2021). The enzymatic mechanisms of microbial degradation of MP were reviewed in detail by Othman et al (2021).…”

“…As evident from the earlier discussion, several studies have been done to find out suitable microbial enzymes and biofilms for MP degradation. As these microbial mechanisms specifically or preferably target individual MP types, removal of MP mixture containing different types and sizes of polymers is not possible (Liu et al 2021). Moreover, the process of biodegradation is comparatively slow which leaves behind the MP traces for longer durations (Miao et al 2019).…”

“…The major advantage of this biological trap is that it is possible to recycle the MP aggregates rather than opting for landfill disposition and incineration (Deshpande et al 2020). Liu et al (2021) engineered P. aeruginosa biofilm to trap and aggregate ("trapand-release" bioaggregation mechanism) MPs within its sticky matrix which could be released and recycled later. The trap-and-release mechanism is independent of material type and size and easily removes the resultant MP clusters due to its aggregation at high concentrations (Liu et al 2021).…”

“…Liu et al (2021) engineered P. aeruginosa biofilm to trap and aggregate ("trapand-release" bioaggregation mechanism) MPs within its sticky matrix which could be released and recycled later. The trap-and-release mechanism is independent of material type and size and easily removes the resultant MP clusters due to its aggregation at high concentrations (Liu et al 2021).…”

Microbial–Enzymatic Combinatorial Approach to Capture and Release Microplastics

“…Currently, other than physical and chemical approaches, such as filtering, there are two potential biotechnological approaches proposed to deal with microplastic pollution: use of plastic-degrading bacteria , and accumulation of microplastics by microbial biofilms . For the plastic degradation strategy, bacterial species, such as the environmental bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa , can be developed to degrade polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE). , For accumulation of microplastics for easier removal of large particles from the environment, we had previously engineered a P. aeruginosa strain which could trap microplastics in its biofilms . Biofilms are multicellular microbial communities whose formation was regulated by c-di-GMP signaling, a secondary messenger system.…”