Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microbes mediated plastic degradation: A sustainable approach for environmental sustainability

This review examines microbially mediated plastic degradation as a sustainable environmental cleanup strategy, surveying bacterial and fungal species capable of breaking down common polymers and discussing enzymatic pathways and factors limiting practical biodegradation rates.

2022 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 9 citations
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
Article Tier 2

Role of organisms and their enzymes in the biodegradation of microplastics and nanoplastics: A review

This review examined organisms and their enzymes capable of biodegrading microplastics and nanoplastics, highlighting bacteria, fungi, and insects as promising biological agents and identifying key enzymatic pathways that could offer sustainable solutions to plastic pollution.

2023 Environmental Research 48 citations
Article Tier 2

Role of Novel Biological Agents in Plastic Degradation and Mitigation Approach towards Bioplastics

This review examines the role of novel biological agents — including bacteria, fungi, and engineered microorganisms — in degrading synthetic plastics and proposes bioplastics as a mitigation strategy to reduce persistent polymer accumulation in the environment. The authors outline the enzymatic mechanisms involved in breaking down major plastic types and discuss the potential of combining biological degradation with bioplastic adoption.

2025 THE ASIAN BULLETIN OF GREEN MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Article Tier 2

Biodegradation of conventional plastics: Candidate organisms and potential mechanisms

This review surveys the organisms and biological mechanisms that show promise for breaking down conventional plastics, including bacteria, fungi, and insect larvae. Researchers cataloged enzymes and metabolic pathways that different species use to degrade common plastics like polyethylene, polystyrene, and PET. The study suggests that biodegradation could become a viable, environmentally friendly alternative to current plastic waste management approaches, though significant technical challenges remain.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 83 citations
Article Tier 2

Enhancement of environmental microplastics (MPs) degradation via bacteria under stress conditions: key enzymes, pathways, and mechanisms

This review focuses on bacterial, enzymatic, and insect-mediated strategies for microplastic biodegradation, evaluating the effectiveness of multi-organism approaches that combine different degrading agents to enhance the breakdown rate of persistent plastic polymers in the environment.

2025 World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioremediation of plastics by the help of microbial tool: A way for control of plastic pollution

This review covers how bacteria and fungi can be used to break down plastic waste, including microplastics, through natural biological processes. Various microorganisms can degrade different types of plastics by producing specific enzymes, though the process is slow and depends on the plastic type and environmental conditions. While biological degradation shows promise for reducing microplastic pollution in soil and water, much more research is needed to make it effective enough to address the scale of the problem.

2023 Sustainable Chemistry for the Environment 37 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbe‐mediated biodegradation of microplastics from wastes

Researchers examined microbe-mediated biodegradation of microplastics from waste, reviewing bacterial and fungal species capable of breaking down various plastic polymers and discussing enzymatic mechanisms that could be harnessed for bioremediation strategies.

2023 Water and Environment Journal 13 citations
Article Tier 2

An overview on role of fungi in systematic plastic degradation

This review examines the role of fungi in plastic degradation, surveying fungal species and enzymes capable of breaking down common polymers and discussing their potential for sustainable bioremediation of plastic pollution in the environment.

2022 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 15 citations
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

Microbial degradation of plastic-A brief review

This review examined microbial degradation of plastics, surveying known plastic-degrading bacteria and fungi and the enzymes they produce, while acknowledging that degradation rates in natural environments remain extremely slow and that biotechnology approaches to accelerating biodegradation require further development.

2021 Pure and Applied Biology 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Role of Various Microbes and Their Enzymatic Mechanisms for Biodegradation of Microplastics

This review examines the microbial enzymes and degradation mechanisms responsible for biodegrading microplastic polymers, covering bacterial, fungal, and algal systems that have evolved plastic-degrading capabilities over the past 150 years of plastic production. The authors survey the most promising enzymatic pathways and organisms for biotechnological application in microplastic remediation.

2024
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

Evidence of Plastic Degrading Bacteria in Aquatic Environment

This review examines evidence for plastic-degrading bacteria in aquatic environments, summarizing identified microorganisms and their enzymatic mechanisms capable of breaking down plastic materials, and discussing the potential application of these organisms in bioremediation of plastic pollution.

2022 Journal of Biological and Allied Health Sciences
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

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

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

Classification and microbes involved in Plastic biodegradation: A review

This review classifies types of plastics and catalogues the bacteria, fungi, and other microbes involved in plastic biodegradation, examining enzymatic mechanisms and conditions that facilitate microbial breakdown of synthetic polymers. The authors argue that microbial biodegradation offers a more sustainable and less hazardous alternative to physical and chemical disposal methods such as landfill and incineration.

2024 International Journal of Science and Research Archive
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation of Micro‐Plastics

This review examines the role of naturally occurring microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and algae in degrading microplastics, discussing the enzymatic mechanisms involved, the species identified as effective plastic degraders, and the prospects for applying microbial degradation pathways in bioremediation strategies.

2022 1 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

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

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

Marine Environmental Plastic Pollution: Mitigation by Microorganism Degradation and Recycling Valorization

This review examines how microorganisms can degrade marine plastic pollution through enzymatic processes and how recycling technologies can recover value from plastic waste. Researchers surveyed various microbial species capable of breaking down common plastics and assessed the effectiveness of different recycling approaches. The study suggests that combining biological degradation with improved recycling infrastructure could help address the growing crisis of ocean plastic pollution.

2020 Frontiers in Marine Science 222 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