Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Harnessing Microorganisms for Microplastic Degradation: A Sustainable Approach to Mitigating Environmental Pollution

This review surveys microorganisms—bacteria, fungi, and other taxa—capable of degrading microplastics, examining the enzymes, metabolic pathways, and environmental conditions involved, and assessing the practical potential of harnessing these organisms for bioremediation of plastic pollution.

2025 NIPES Journal of Science and Technology Research
Systematic Review Tier 1

Bioremediation of microplastic pollution: A systematic review on mechanism, analytical methods, innovations, and omics approaches

Researchers systematically reviewed how bacteria, fungi, and algae can break down microplastics through enzymes and biofilms, and how cutting-edge tools like genomics and genetically engineered microbes are improving biodegradation efficiency. While microbial bioremediation is a promising sustainable approach to microplastic pollution, challenges around scalability and varying degradation rates in real environments still need to be overcome.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Engineering a Solution: Recent Technological Advances in the Microbial Bioremediation of Microplastics

This review examines recent advances in microbial bioremediation of microplastics, highlighting the limitations of conventional treatments and presenting biological alternatives using bacteria, fungi, and algae capable of degrading plastic polymers. The authors discuss key enzymatic mechanisms and the potential for scaling microbial approaches as sustainable remediation tools for plastic pollution.

2025 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Review Tier 2

The plastic and microplastic waste menace and bacterial biodegradation for sustainable environmental clean-up a review

This review examined bacterial biodegradation of plastic and microplastic waste, covering key microbial species, enzymatic mechanisms, and biotechnological approaches being developed for sustainable environmental cleanup of plastic pollution.

2023 Environmental Research 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent Advancements and Mechanism of Plastics Biodegradation Promoted by Bacteria: A Key for Sustainable Remediation for Plastic Wastes

This review highlights recent discoveries of microbial enzymes capable of degrading various plastics, discussing bacterial biodegradation mechanisms as a sustainable remediation strategy for addressing accumulating plastic waste in landfills and water bodies.

2023 Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 9 citations
Article Tier 2

A minireview on the bioremediative potential of microbial enzymes as solution to emerging microplastic pollution

This mini review explores the potential of microbial enzymes as a sustainable solution for degrading microplastics, discussing recent advances in identifying plastic-degrading enzymes and the challenges remaining for practical bioremediation applications.

2023 Frontiers in Microbiology 50 citations
Article Tier 2

Biological Degradation of Plastics and Microplastics: A Recent Perspective on Associated Mechanisms and Influencing Factors

This review looks at how bacteria and their enzymes can break down different types of plastics and microplastics through biological processes. Understanding these natural degradation pathways is important because they could be harnessed to reduce the amount of persistent microplastic pollution that accumulates in the environment and eventually enters the human food chain.

2023 Microorganisms 320 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution: Understanding microbial degradation and strategies for pollutant reduction

This review explores how microplastics form, spread through ecosystems, and affect microbial communities, then examines how certain microorganisms can actually break down these plastic particles. Understanding microbial degradation of microplastics could lead to biotechnology solutions that reduce the amount of plastic pollution entering the food chain and ultimately the human body.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 150 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of microplastics: Advancement in the strategic approaches towards prevention of its accumulation and harmful effects

This review assessed advances in strategic approaches to microplastic biodegradation, covering microbial enzymes, biofilm-mediated degradation, and conditions that enhance breakdown rates, with the goal of identifying practical paths to reducing environmental microplastic accumulation.

2023 Chemosphere 28 citations
Article Tier 2

New-Age Bioremediation Strategies to Combat Microplastic Pollution in the Environment

This review discusses emerging bioremediation strategies for addressing microplastic pollution, focusing on the use of microorganisms and their enzymes to break down plastic polymers. Researchers highlight that enzymes such as lipases, esterases, and oxidases show potential for depolymerizing various microplastic types. The study acknowledges challenges around substrate specificity, environmental conditions, and scalability that must be overcome to make enzymatic bioremediation viable at larger scales.

2024 ACS symposium series 3 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Bacteria as Ecological Tools: Pioneering Microplastic Biodegradation

This systematic review examines how bacteria can be used to biologically break down microplastic particles. The researchers identified several bacterial species capable of degrading different types of plastics, offering a potential natural solution to microplastic pollution. Finding biological methods to break down microplastics could reduce the amount of these particles that accumulate in our environment and food chain.

2024 Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Pollution and its Remediation

This publication reviews the growing problem of microplastic pollution in the environment and explores biological and technological strategies for remediation, including microbial degradation and engineered solutions. It highlights the urgent need for practical cleanup approaches as microplastics continue to accumulate across ecosystems worldwide.

2024 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances in biodegradation of emerging contaminants - microplastics (MPs): Feasibility, mechanism, and future prospects

This review explores biological approaches to breaking down microplastics, including using bacteria, fungi, and enzymes. While some organisms can partially degrade certain plastic types, the process is slow and incomplete compared to the scale of pollution. The research is promising for future cleanup efforts but shows that biodegradation alone cannot yet solve the microplastic contamination problem.

2023 Chemosphere 81 citations
Article Tier 2

Engineering a Solution: Recent Technological Advances in the Microbial Bioremediation of Microplastics

This review examines recent advances in microbial bioremediation of microplastics, highlighting the limitations of conventional treatments like mechanical recycling and incineration and presenting biological alternatives using bacteria, fungi, and algae. The authors identify key microbial mechanisms and enzyme systems involved in plastic degradation and discuss the potential for scaling these approaches as cost-effective environmental remediation tools.

2025 UTTAR PRADESH JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Article Tier 2

Eco-Solutions to Microplastic Pollution: Advances in Bioremediation Technologies

This review surveys bioremediation technologies, including microbial and plant-based approaches, as potential solutions for removing microplastics from the environment. Researchers highlight promising organisms and enzymatic pathways while noting that practical, scalable applications remain in early development.

2020 Environmental Reports.
Article Tier 2

The Role Of Bacteria In Microplastic Bioremediation And Implications For Marine Ecosystems

This literature review summarizes how bacteria can be harnessed through bioremediation to break down microplastics in marine environments, cataloging the bacterial species and mechanisms involved. While biological degradation is slow and not yet a practical cleanup solution at scale, identifying effective bacteria is an important step toward developing tools to reduce the long-term accumulation of microplastics in ocean ecosystems.

2024 BIO Web of Conferences 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Application of green microbiology for microplastic remediation: Current progress and future perspectives

This review explores how microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, can be harnessed to break down microplastic pollution through environmentally friendly biodegradation approaches. Researchers summarized current progress in identifying plastic-degrading microbes and the enzymes they use. The study highlights the promise of green microbiology as a sustainable strategy for tackling microplastic contamination, while noting that significant technical challenges remain.

2024 Environmental Advances 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic biodegradation and environmental safety: From microbial mechanisms to engineered systems and circular bio-based implementation.

This research review summarizes what scientists know about using bacteria and enzymes to break down microplastics—tiny plastic particles smaller than 5mm that contaminate our water, soil, and air. While these biological approaches show promise for removing dangerous plastic pollution from the environment, the methods don't always work completely and may create new harmful byproducts. The findings matter because microplastics can enter our food chain and bodies, so we need safe and effective ways to remove them without creating new health risks.

2026 Ecotoxicology and environmental safety
Article Tier 2

Microbial Biodegradation of Plastics and Microplastics: Enzymatic Mechanisms, Biotechnological Applications, and Ecotoxicological Perspectives

This review examined the enzymatic mechanisms by which microorganisms degrade plastics and microplastics, covering biotechnological applications and ecotoxicological perspectives. Researchers found that certain bacterial and fungal enzymes can break down persistent plastic polymers, positioning microbial biodegradation as a promising sustainable remediation approach, though scalability and environmental deployment remain challenges.

2025 Environmental Toxicology and Ecology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial degradation of microplastics: Effectiveness, challenges, and sustainable solutions

This review summarizes current knowledge on microbial degradation of microplastics, examining the effectiveness of bacteria, fungi, and algae in breaking down various plastic polymers. Researchers found that while certain microorganisms show promising degradation capabilities, the process remains slow and faces challenges in real-world conditions. The study identifies key research gaps and potential strategies for developing more effective biological microplastic remediation approaches.

2025 Current Research in Microbial Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Discovering untapped microbial communities through metagenomics for microplastic remediation: recent advances, challenges, and way forward

This review explores how metagenomic approaches are uncovering microbial communities capable of degrading microplastics in various environments. Researchers found that diverse bacteria and fungi in soil, water, and waste systems produce enzymes that can break down plastic polymers, though degradation rates remain slow. The study highlights metagenomics as a powerful tool for discovering new biological solutions to microplastic pollution.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 54 citations
Article Tier 2

Unlocking secrets of microbial ecotoxicology: recent achievements and future challenges

This review explores how microorganisms interact with environmental pollutants, including microplastics, covering how bacteria can break down pollutants but are also harmed by them. The authors highlight that microplastics create new surfaces in the environment where bacteria form communities, potentially spreading harmful species or antibiotic resistance. Understanding these microbial interactions is critical for developing nature-based solutions to reduce pollution and protect human health.

2023 FEMS Microbiology Ecology 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of different types of microplastics: Molecular mechanism and degradation efficiency

This review examines how bacteria, fungi, and algae can break down different types of microplastics through their enzymes, and compares the degradation efficiency of various microbial strains. Understanding these biological breakdown pathways is important because they could be developed into practical solutions for reducing the persistent microplastic pollution that threatens ecosystems and human health.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 167 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial enzyme power: Breaking down microplastics for a cleaner planet

This review examines how microbial enzymes produced by bacteria, fungi, and algae can break down and degrade microplastic polymers. The study suggests that enzymatic biodegradation represents a promising and more sustainable alternative to conventional microplastic removal methods, though further research is needed to improve enzyme efficiency and scalability.

2026 Journal of Hazardous Materials Plastics