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From Microplastics to “Mycoplastics”: Enzymatic Conversion of Oxidized Polystyrene into Humic Acid-like Products
Summary
Scientists discovered that a natural enzyme from fungi can transform harmful chemicals that leak from broken-down plastic waste into safer, soil-like compounds. This process could help clean up plastic pollution in the environment by converting toxic plastic byproducts into materials that might actually help remove other pollutants from soil and water. The finding offers hope for new ways to tackle the growing problem of microplastics and their harmful effects on ecosystems and potentially human health.
The environmental degradation of plastics results not only in their mechanical fragmentation into microplastics (MPs), but also in polymer main-chain scission processes, causing continuous leaching and/or volatilization of low-molecular-weight species, often characterized by a hazardous profile. In this study, we investigated the hydrophilic photooxidation products (HyPOPs) generated upon UV irradiation of polystyrene (PS) and their transformation catalyzed by the enzyme laccase from the fungus Trametes versicolor. Through a series of enzymatic tests, the enzyme was found to promote coupling and conjugation reactions of HyPOPs into poorly soluble compounds mimicking natural humic acids. The enzymatic activity of laccase was studied under different experimental conditions to simulate those found in environmental matrices. Due to their oligomeric nature, these humic acid-like products of metabolic transformation by the fungal laccase are here nicknamed “mycoplastics” (i.e., polymers from fungi). This enzymatic biodegradation and biotransformation of xenobiotic HyPOPs highlights the role of specific enzymes as biological tools for environmental self-repair of polluted ecosystems. Moreover, it opens new perspectives for remediation strategies targeting elusive micro- and nanoplastics and their continuously generated hazardous molecular degradation by-products. Humic acid-like products resulting from laccase conversion of HyPOPs could contribute to the rehabilitation of contaminated sites by promoting the removal of toxic contaminants from soil and water.