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Bioplastics against Microplastics: Screening of Environmental Bacteria for Bioplastics Production
Summary
Researchers screened environmental bacteria for their ability to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate bioplastics, which are biodegradable alternatives to conventional petroleum-based plastics. Developing efficient bioplastic-producing strains is one strategy to reduce the long-term accumulation of persistent microplastics in the environment.
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolymers produced by numerous bacteria and can be used in the production of bioplastics. PHAs are synthesized by microorganisms by fermentation of carbon sources. Due to the different monomer structures of PHAs, there are many kinds of PHAs, and their corresponding material properties are also very different. Thus, the search for bacteria producing the PHAs is of great interest. In this study, the bacteria isolated from the environment were analyzed for the presence of PHA. PHA production was tested with staining methods Sudan Black B, Nile Blue, and Nile Red. The presence of a PHA synthase gene (phaC) was confirmed by PCR amplification. PHAs were extracted from the strains and characterized by the FTIR spectroscopy method. A biochip for a fast screening of environmental samples for the presence of PHA-producing bacteria was designed. The biochip contained 11 probes for coding class 1, 2, and 3 PHA synthase genes.