Microbiology Bacteria develop in the environment to eat plastic waste

Merien and soil microbes are evolving into plastic eaters, says Fresh research. The amount of enzymes that break down plastics increases in proportion to how much plastic waste ends up in the environment.

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg analyzed DNA samples collected from 236 locations around the world.

They found more than 30,000 microbial enzymes capable of breaking down ten different types of plastics.

Group initially gathered information on 95 enzymes that have previously been found to degrade plastics. The researchers then used computer modeling to look for similar enzymes capable of breaking down plastic.

They also looked at how the amount of these enzymes related to the amount of plastic waste in the environments from which the samples originated.

Samples had been collected, for example, from the Mediterranean and the South Pacific from areas affected by heavy plastic debris.

The number and spectrum of enzymes that degrade plastics increased according to the amount of plastic waste in place.

This is a significant indication of how the environment responds to the pressures placed on it, says Docent of Systems Biology Alexei Zelezniak University of Technology in the bulletin.

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“Microbial communities could be modified to target the degradation of certain types of polymers.”

Microbit have developed rapidly as plastic eaters, as plastic has only been mass-produced for about 70 years.

It is now produced at an estimated 380 million tonnes a year. Millions of tons of plastic waste end up in the wild every year.

Plastic breaks down very slowly by nature, and researchers say a pet plastic bottle has a lifespan of 16 to 48 years.

Of the more than 30,000 enzymes that scientists say can break down plastic, about 12,000 came from the seas and about 18,000 from land.

Nearly 60 percent of the enzymes did not fit into any known class of enzyme. Indeed, scientists assume that molecules degrade plastics in ways not previously known.

They also believe the findings can help develop microbes that help get rid of the garbage.

“Next a step would be to test the most promising enzymes in the laboratory in order to accurately study their properties and the rate at which they are able to degrade plastic. After that, microbial communities could be modified to target the degradation of certain types of polymers, ”says Zelezniak.

The study was published in the journal Microbial Ecology.

Published in Science 2/2022.