New microbial enzymes can recycle and metabolize plastic in soil and oceans.
The results, published in Microbial Ecology, report that the plastic-degrading enzymes the researchers discovered are ubiquitous in both marine and soil microbiomes. Moreover, biologists have found differences in the amount and type of plastic particles and the enzymes that degrade them depending on the ecosystem. For example, samples from the oceans (67 locations around the world) showed that the number of bacterial “eaters” increased with depth, meaning there was a wide variety of enzymes in deep waters. This means that there is already a high concentration of microplastics at depths.
The soil samples contained much more phthalate-based plastic additives. They are used in all types of processes and are especially susceptible to leaks during production, disposal and recycling – processes that occur primarily on land, the PostNews website writes.
Researchers have discovered about 30 thousand enzymes in various microbes that are capable of destroying 10 different types of plastic, writes The Guardian.
Back in June 2020, Austrian biologists discovered several types of fungi and bacteria in the intestinal microflora of cows that can decompose molecules of various polymers – for example, lavsan and other polyester plastics. These microbes can be used to improve the environmental situation in the world, scientists write in the scientific journal Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.
In the spring of 2018, scientists were able to improve a naturally occurring enzyme that is capable of decomposing some of the most common polymers that pollute the environment. This enzyme was originally discovered in Japan. It is a waste product of the bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis, which consumes PET polyethylene as its main source of energy.
The UN warns that marine life is under threat from the millions of tonnes of plastic that enter the world’s oceans every year. “This is a crisis on a planetary scale. We are destroying the ocean ecosystem,” Lisa Svensson, head of the UN Oceans programme, told the BBC.