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Construction and degradation characteristics of high-efficiency polyethylene degrading composite microbial community
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Researchers engineered a high-efficiency polyethylene-degrading microbial consortium and characterized its degradation pathways and kinetics, finding substantial mass loss and chemical modification of polyethylene under optimized conditions. The consortium outperformed previously described single-species degraders, advancing the development of biological solutions for hard-to-recycle plastic waste.
Objective The The stability of polyethylene plastics and the increasing usage pose a serious threat of “white pollution” to the ecological environment.The generated microplastics from its weathering poses a significant challenge to biological health and safety.These challenges are in need of urgent solution. Method Potential microbial degradation resources for polyethylene in the digestive tract of the greater wax moth larvae were isolated using pure cultivation techniques.An efficient degradation composite microbial community was constructed through the proportional combination of strains.The degradation capacity was assessed through quality control recovery，and its performance was validated by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.Microbial degradation characteristics of polyethylene were explored by techniques including infrared spectroscopy，gel permeation chromatography，gas chromatography-mass spectrometry，and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Result Thirteen strains of polyethylene-degrading microorganisms were isolated.Debaryomyces hansenii was identified for the first time as having the ability to efficiently degrade polyethylene.A polyethylene efficient degradation composite microbial community composed of fungi and bacteria was established.Compared with single strains，the degradation performance of the composite microbial community increased by 3.3 times，with a degradation efficiency of 0.936 7 mg/d，which significantly surpassed previous levels.Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of biofilm traces and noticeable pores on the surface of degraded polyethylene films.Infrared spectroscopy showed the presence of multiple new functional groups in the degradation solution，and gel permeation chromatography results indicated a reduction in the molecular weight of polyethylene microplastics after degradation.Gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry results indicated the presence of bioactive components such as amides，amino acids，olefins，alcohols，ketones，and large-molecule alkanes in the degradation solution. Conclusion The study identified microbial degradation resources for polyethylene by constructing an efficient degradation composite microbial community，and it explored microbial degradation characteristics，thus providing data support and feasible solutions for the microbial degradation of polyethylene.
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