Dataset Information

Exploring Microorganisms from Plastic-Polluted Sites: Unveiling Plastic Degradation and PHA Production Potential.

ABSTRACT: The exposure of microorganisms to conventional plastics is a relatively recent occurrence, affording limited time for evolutionary adaptation. As part of the EU-funded project BioICEP, this study delves into the plastic degradation potential of microorganisms isolated from sites with prolonged plastic pollution, such as plastic-polluted forests, biopolymer-contaminated soil, oil-contaminated soil, municipal landfill, but also a distinctive soil sample with plastic pieces buried three decades ago. Additionally, samples from Arthropoda species were investigated. In total, 150 strains were isolated and screened for the ability to use plastic-related substrates (Impranil dispersions, polyethylene terephthalate, terephthalic acid, and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate). Twenty isolates selected based on their ability to grow on various substrates were identified as Streptomyces, Bacillus, Enterococcus, and Pseudomonas spp. Morphological features were recorded, and the 16S rRNA sequence was employed to construct a phylogenetic tree. Subsequent assessments unveiled that 5 out of the 20 strains displayed the capability to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates, utilizing pre-treated post-consumer PET samples. With Priestia sp. DG69 and Neobacillus sp. DG40 emerging as the most successful producers (4.14% and 3.34% of PHA, respectively), these strains are poised for further utilization in upcycling purposes, laying the foundation for the development of sustainable strategies for plastic waste management.

SUBMITTER: Herrera DAG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10745504 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Exploring Microorganisms from Plastic-Polluted Sites: Unveiling Plastic Degradation and PHA Production Potential.

Herrera Diana A Garza DAG Mojicevic Marija M Pantelic Brana B Joshi Akanksha A Collins Catherine C Batista Maria M Torres Cristiana C Freitas Filomena F Murray Patrick P Nikodinovic-Runic Jasmina J Brennan Fournet Margaret M

Microorganisms 20231203 12

The exposure of microorganisms to conventional plastics is a relatively recent occurrence, affording limited time for evolutionary adaptation. As part of the EU-funded project BioICEP, this study delves into the plastic degradation potential of microorganisms isolated from sites with prolonged plastic pollution, such as plastic-polluted forests, biopolymer-contaminated soil, oil-contaminated soil, municipal landfill, but also a distinctive soil sample with plastic pieces buried three decades ago ...[more]

PMID: 38138058

Similar Datasets

Project description:Plastics are of great significance in today's world due to their extensive use such as packaging food and carrying other goods, which have improved the quality of human life. However, plastics have low biodegradability and are persistent in the environment, becoming a major source of pollution. With regard to the current methods used in the management of plastic wastes, the degradation of plastics using beneficial soil microorganisms has recently gained attention due to their ability to degrade different types of plastics including polyethylene (PE) polymers. The study herein was conducted to isolate and identify microorganisms from agricultural soils capable of degrading plastics. Soil samples were inoculated into nutrient, potato dextrose, and starch-casein agar for the isolation of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes, respectively. During isolation, fungi and bacterial plates were incubated for 5 days and for 14 days, respectively. The population of bacteria ranged from 1 × 105 to 1.215 × 105 and that of fungi from 1.604 × 104 to 8.6 × 104 whereby actinomycetes ranged from 1.045 × 105 to 2.995 × 105 CFU/g of soil. However, the tested microorganisms showed significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences in the ability to degrade PE bags and bottles as depicted by the diameters of clear zones around the colonies. The diameters of clear zones ranged from 19.3 to 47.5 mm and 25.9 to 32.2 mm after 17 days for bacteria and actinomycetes, respectively, and those of fungi ranged from 30.0 to 66.3 mm after 13 days. Among the bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi, unsequenced bacterial and actinomycete isolates B1 and A3 as well as Aspergillus sp. (F7) were the most efficient degraders of PE plastic bags. This retrospective study sheds light on our understanding and the need for the bioprospecting of agricultural soils, water bodies, and landfills containing plastic wastes that could lead to the identification of more efficient microbial species with the ability to degrade plastics.

Project description:BackgroundBetter understanding of the determinants of national life expectancy is crucial for economic development, as a healthy nation is a prerequisite for a wealthy nation. Many socioeconomic, nutritional, lifestyle, genetic and environmental factors can influence a nation's health and longevity. Environmental degradation is one of the critical determinants of life expectancy, which is still under-researched, as the literature suggests.ObjectivesThis study aims to investigate the determinants of life expectancy in 31 world's most polluted countries with particular attention on environmental degradation using the World Bank annual data and British Petroleum data over the period of 18 years (2000-2017).MethodsThe empirical investigation is based on the model of Preston Curve, where panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) and feasible general least square (FGLS) estimates are employed to explore the long-run effects. Pairwise Granger causality test is also used to have short-run causality among the variables of interest, taking into account the cross-sectional dependence test and other essential diagnostic tests.ResultsThe results confirm the existence of the Preston Curve, implying the positive effect of economic growth on life expectancy. Environmental degradation is found as a threat while health expenditure, clean water and improved sanitation affect the life expectancy positively in the sample countries. The causality test results reveal one-way causality from carbon emissions to life expectancy and bidirectional causalities between drinking water and life expectancy and sanitation and life expectancy.ConclusionOur results reveal that environmental degradation is a threat to having improved life expectancy in our sample countries. Based on the results of this study, we recommend that: (1) policy marker of these countries should adopt policies that will reduce carbon emissions and thus will improve public health and productivity; (2) environment-friendly technologies and resources, such as renewable energy, should be used in the production process; (3) healthcare expenditure on a national budget should be increased; and (4) clean drinking water and basic sanitation facilities must be ensured for all people.

Project description:The number of plastic-degrading microorganisms reported is rapidly increasing, making it possible to explore the conservation and distribution of presumed plastic-degrading traits across the diverse microbial tree of life. Putative degraders of conventional high-molecular-weight polymers, including polyamide, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride, and polypropylene, are spread widely across bacterial and fungal branches of the tree of life, although evidence for plastic degradation by a majority of these taxa appears limited. In contrast, we found strong degradation evidence for the synthetic polymer polylactic acid (PLA), and the microbial species related to its degradation are phylogenetically conserved among the bacterial family Pseudonocardiaceae We collated data on genes and enzymes related to the degradation of all types of plastic to identify 16,170 putative plastic degradation orthologs by mining publicly available microbial genomes. The plastic with the largest number of putative orthologs, 10,969, was the natural polymer polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), followed by the synthetic polymers polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycaprolactone (PCL), with 8,233 and 6,809 orthologs, respectively. These orthologous genes were discovered in the genomes of 6,000 microbial species, and most of them are as yet not identified as plastic degraders. Furthermore, all these species belong to 12 different microbial phyla, of which just 7 phyla have reported degraders to date. We have centralized information on reported plastic-degrading microorganisms within an interactive and updatable phylogenetic tree and database to confirm the global and phylogenetic diversity of putative plastic-degrading taxa and provide new insights into the evolution of microbial plastic-degrading capabilities and avenues for future discovery.IMPORTANCE We have collated the most complete database of microorganisms identified as being capable of degrading plastics to date. These data allow us to explore the phylogenetic distribution of these organisms and their enzymes, showing that traits for plastic degradation are predominantly not phylogenetically conserved. We found 16,170 putative plastic degradation orthologs in the genomes of 12 different phyla, which suggests a vast potential for the exploration of these traits in other taxa. Besides making the database available to the scientific community, we also created an interactive phylogenetic tree that can display all of the collated information, facilitating visualization and exploration of the data. Both the database and the tree are regularly updated to keep up with new scientific reports. We expect that our work will contribute to the field by increasing the understanding of the genetic diversity and evolution of microbial plastic-degrading traits.

Project description:BackgroundOil spills are ranked among the greatest global challenges to humanity. In Uganda, owing to the forthcoming full-scale production of multi-billion barrels of oil, the country's oil pollution burden is anticipated to escalate, necessitating remediation. Due to the unsuitability of several oil clean-up technologies, the search for cost-effective and environmentally friendly remediation technologies is paramount. We thus carried out this study to examine the occurrence of metabolically active indigenous bacterial species and chemical characteristics of soils with a long history of oil pollution in Uganda that can be used in the development of a bacterial-based product for remediation of oil-polluted sites.ResultsTotal hydrocarbon analysis of the soil samples revealed that the three most abundant hydrocarbons were pyrene, anthracene and phenanthrene that were significantly higher in oil-polluted sites than in the control sites. Using the BIOLOG EcoPlate™, the study revealed that bacterial species richness, bacterial diversity and bacterial activity (ANOVA, p < 0.05) significantly varied among the sites. Only bacterial activity showed significant variation across the three cities (ANOVA, p < 0.05). Additionally, the study revealed significant moderate positive correlation between the bacterial community profiles with Zn and organic contents while correlations between the bacterial community profiles and the hydrocarbons were largely moderate and positively correlated.ConclusionsThis study revealed largely similar bacterial community profiles between the oil-polluted and control sites suggestive of the occurrence of metabolically active bacterial populations in both sites. The oil-polluted sites had higher petroleum hydrocarbon, heavy metal, nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Even though we observed similar bacterial community profiles between the oil polluted and control sites, the actual bacterial community composition may be different, owing to a higher exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons. However, the existence of oil degrading bacteria in unpolluted soils should not be overlooked. Thus, there is a need to ascertain the actual indigenous bacterial populations with potential to degrade hydrocarbons from both oil-polluted and unpolluted sites in Uganda to inform the design and development of a bacterial-based oil remediation product that could be used to manage the imminent pollution from oil exploration and increased utilization of petroleum products in Uganda.

Dataset Information

Exploring Microorganisms from Plastic-Polluted Sites: Unveiling Plastic Degradation and PHA Production Potential.

Publications

Exploring Microorganisms from Plastic-Polluted Sites: Unveiling Plastic Degradation and PHA Production Potential.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets