Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microbial and Enzymatic Degradation of Synthetic Plastics

This review examines microorganisms and enzymes that show promise for breaking down common synthetic plastics like polyethylene, PET, and polystyrene. While natural biodegradation of these materials is extremely slow, researchers have identified certain bacteria, fungi, and enzymes that can accelerate the process, pointing toward potential biological solutions for plastic pollution.

2020 Frontiers in Microbiology 990 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation of Plastics

This review examines microbial degradation of plastics in the environment, discussing how environmental breakdown of plastics generates microplastic particles that accumulate in plants and animals and cause metabolic disruptions, while exploring the potential of microorganisms to break down plastic polymers.

2023 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial plastic degradation: enzymes, pathways, challenges, and perspectives.

This review synthesizes current knowledge on microbial plastic degradation, covering the enzymes and metabolic pathways involved in breaking down major synthetic polymers, the challenges limiting efficient biodegradation, and perspectives for engineering improved microbial solutions to plastic waste.

2025 Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR
Article Tier 2

Microbial Biodegradation of Plastic: A Noble Approach

This review examines microbial biodegradation of synthetic plastics as an alternative to conventional disposal methods, highlighting the capacity of diverse microorganisms to degrade recalcitrant polymers including those involved in agricultural, construction, health, and consumer goods applications. Researchers survey mechanisms by which bacteria and fungi break down non-degradable synthetic polymers such as polyethylene, polystyrene, and PVC.

2024 ACTA SCIENTIFIC MICROBIOLOGY 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation of Plastics and Approaches to Make it More Efficient

This review examines microbial degradation of plastics by bacteria and fungi, focusing on polyethylene, polystyrene, and PET, and discusses methods to make biodegradation more efficient as a potential solution to plastic pollution.

2021 Microbiology 122 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of Microplastic: A Sustainable Approach

This review examines biological approaches to microplastic degradation, covering microorganisms and enzymes capable of breaking down common plastic polymers such as PET and polyethylene. Biodegradation could offer a sustainable path to reducing microplastic accumulation in soil, water, and marine environments.

2023 International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
Article Tier 2

Microbes in Plastic Degradation

This review examines how microorganisms can break down common plastics like polyethylene and PET through enzymatic processes. Researchers summarized the key bacterial and fungal species capable of degrading plastics and the conditions that affect degradation rates. The study highlights that while microbial plastic degradation is promising, natural breakdown is slow and more research is needed to make biological solutions practical at scale.

2024 International Journal of Current Science Research and Review 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Breaking down the plastics paradox: polymer degrading microorganisms

This review examines microorganisms capable of degrading plastics, cataloging the bacteria and fungi discovered to break down common polymers like polyethylene, polystyrene, and PET. Identifying and harnessing plastic-degrading microbes could provide biological solutions to the accumulation of microplastics in the environment.

2023 Bulgarian Chemical Communications
Article Tier 2

Plastics: Environmental and Biotechnological Perspectives on Microbial Degradation

This review explores the environmental challenges of plastic accumulation and the potential for microorganisms to degrade various types of plastics. Researchers summarized recent discoveries of bacteria and fungi capable of breaking down common plastics like polyethylene and PET, though degradation rates remain slow. The study highlights microbial degradation as a promising but still developing biotechnological approach to addressing plastic pollution.

2019 Applied and Environmental Microbiology 821 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of Typical Plastics: From Microbial Diversity to Metabolic Mechanisms

This review examines how marine microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, can naturally break down common plastics like PET, polystyrene, and polyethylene. Marine microbes may be better adapted than land-based organisms for this task because they already thrive in harsh conditions, offering a potential environmentally friendly approach to addressing ocean plastic pollution.

2024 International Journal of Molecular Sciences 115 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation and Valorization of Plastic Wastes

This review covers recent advances in microbial and enzymatic degradation of synthetic plastic wastes, summarizing the microorganisms and enzymes capable of attacking different polymer types and assessing the prospects for biological plastic waste treatment at scale.

2020 Frontiers in Microbiology 551 citations
Article Tier 2

Characteristic Features of Plastic Microbial Degradation

This book chapter reviews the characteristics of microbial plastic degradation, covering the enzymes, metabolic pathways, and environmental conditions that affect breakdown rates for different polymer types. Understanding microbial degradation mechanisms is foundational to developing biological solutions for microplastic pollution.

2023 BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS eBooks 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Novel Approach in Biodegradation of Synthetic Thermoplastic Polymers: An Overview

This review examines microbial biodegradation pathways for synthetic thermoplastic polymers including polyethylene, highlighting the ecological threat of non-degradable plastics and discussing the mechanisms by which microorganisms can break down both natural and synthetic polymers.

2022 Polymers 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent trends in microbial and enzymatic plastic degradation: a solution for plastic pollution predicaments

This review covers recent advances in using microorganisms and their enzymes to break down plastics including polyethylene, PVC, polystyrene, and PET, with techniques like protein engineering being used to boost enzyme efficiency. Microbial degradation offers a sustainable approach to reducing the persistent plastic pollution that generates the microplastics found throughout the environment and human body.

2024 Biotechnology for Sustainable Materials 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation of Plastics

This review covers microbial species capable of degrading synthetic plastics, examining the enzymes and metabolic pathways involved and the environmental conditions that influence breakdown rates. While microbial degradation offers a promising long-term remediation strategy, the review concludes that current rates are far too slow to address the scale of plastic accumulation in the environment.

2023
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of typical plastics and its mechanisms

This review summarizes the mechanisms by which common plastic types are broken down by bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms in the environment. Despite their chemical stability, many plastics can be degraded — though slowly — with the pace depending on environmental conditions and plastic type. The paper provides a foundation for developing faster biodegradation strategies to reduce plastic pollution.

2020 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 5 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microbial degradation of polyethylene terephthalate: a systematic review

This systematic review examines how microorganisms like bacteria and fungi can break down PET plastic, one of the most common types of plastic waste. The research identifies several promising biological approaches that could help reduce plastic pollution without the harmful side effects of chemical recycling methods. Finding better ways to break down plastic waste is critical for reducing the microplastics that end up in our water, food, and bodies.

2022 SN Applied Sciences 68 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial biodegradation of plastics: Challenges, opportunities, and a critical perspective

Researchers reviewed microbial biodegradation of synthetic plastics, summarizing the bacterial and fungal species, enzymes, and biochemical pathways capable of breaking down common polymers and arguing that combining microbial approaches with physicochemical methods offers the most promising eco-friendly route to plastic waste remediation.

2022 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering 88 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation of Microplastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: A New Frontier in Environmental Bioremediation

This review examines microbial degradation of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, covering bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes capable of colonizing plastic surfaces, forming biofilms, and secreting enzymes to degrade polymers including polyethylene and PET.

2025 International Journal of Integrative Studies (IJIS)
Article Tier 2

Plastic biodegradation: Frontline microbes and their enzymes

Researchers reviewed microbial biodegradation of synthetic plastics — including PE, PP, PS, and PET — cataloguing the insects, bacteria, and fungi capable of breaking down these polymers along with the enzymatic mechanisms involved, and outlining paths forward including metabolic pathway engineering and molecular cloning to improve degradation rates.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 663 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of Microplastics: Mechanisms, Challenges, and Future Prospects for Environmental Remediation

This review assesses microbial biodegradation as a strategy for reducing microplastic pollution, focusing on how bacteria and fungi break down common plastic polymers under various environmental conditions. Researchers found that while several microbial strains can degrade plastics like polyethylene and polystyrene, the process is generally slow and varies with temperature, pH, and available nutrients. The study identifies key challenges that must be overcome, including improving degradation rates, before biological approaches can be effective at environmental cleanup scales.

2025 Tropical Aquatic and Soil Pollution 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of macro- and micro-plastics in environment: A review on mechanism, toxicity, and future perspectives.

This review examined mechanisms, toxicology, and future perspectives for biodegradation of macro- and micro-plastics, cataloguing microbial species capable of polymer degradation, discussing enzymatic pathways, and identifying key limitations including slow degradation rates and the need for pretreatment to accelerate breakdown in environmental settings.

2023 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Frontiers in plastic biodegradation: unraveling the mechanisms and impacts of macro- and microplastic pollution

This review examined current approaches to breaking down plastic pollution using microorganisms and enzymes, covering common plastics like polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, and polystyrene. Researchers highlighted several promising biological degradation pathways, including enzymes like PETase and laccase produced by bacteria and fungi. The study suggests that combining genetic engineering of plastic-degrading organisms with circular economy strategies could help address the growing global plastic pollution crisis.

2026 Biodegradation 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanisms of interaction between microplastics and microorganisms in the environment

This review summarized the sources, environmental distribution, and hazards of microplastics, focusing on how MPs influence both individual microorganisms and microbial communities in the environment. Microbial degradation pathways and methods were analyzed, and future research directions proposed to better understand the environmental behavior of microplastics and their interactions with microorganisms.

2024 E3S Web of Conferences