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Characterization of poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) PBAT co- polyesters degrading bacteria from farmland soil of Xinjiang
Summary
Researchers isolated and characterized bacteria from farmland soil capable of degrading PBAT, a biodegradable plastic used as mulch film. Identifying microbes that can break down agricultural plastics offers a biological approach to reducing long-term microplastic accumulation in soils that grow food.
Abstract The use of poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) has increased widely but PBAT-degrading bacteria have rarely been studied. During this study, we used farm soil (Shaanxi ( yuan Jia cun )) to isolate and identify PBAT-degrading bacteria (Bacillus strains). We then accessed the effect of growth factors on PBAT degradation as well as the lipase activity of PBAT-degrading bacteria. The serial dilution method was used to isolate the PBAT-degrading microbes from the farm soil of Xinjiang. Microbial colonies were spread and streaked many times to get pure colonies. Xin-A and Xin-B were gram-positive bacteria. Lipase production of these strains was studied using para nitrophenyl palmitate as a substrate which showed that both bacteria were lipase producing and the lipase production of Xin-B (14 U/mL) was superior to Xin-A (11.7 U/mL) degrading almost 13.7% PBAT in 14 days. These results provide technical support for the highly efficient degradation of PBAT in the environment.
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