Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Solving the plastic dilemma: the fungal and bacterial biodegradability of polyurethanes

This review examined the biodegradability of polyurethane by fungi and bacteria, identifying promising microbial species and enzymes capable of breaking down this widely used but environmentally persistent plastic polymer.

2023 World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 54 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial and Enzymatic Biodegradation of Polyurethane: From Depolymerization to Monomer Valorization

A review covered microbial and enzymatic degradation of polyurethane, summarizing the microorganisms and enzymes capable of breaking down this widely used plastic. Identifying effective biodegradation pathways is key to developing biological solutions for polyurethane waste management.

2025 Biotechnology Journal 1 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

Microbial enzymes for the recycling of recalcitrant petroleum‐based plastics: how far are we?

This review examines the progress in identifying microbial enzymes capable of breaking down petroleum-based plastics like polyethylene, polystyrene, polyurethane, and PET. Researchers highlight recent advances in using polyester-degrading enzymes to recover raw materials from PET waste through biocatalytic recycling. The study discusses the potential and remaining challenges of using biological approaches to address the growing global problem of plastic waste accumulation.

2017 Microbial Biotechnology 788 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

A review on cutinases enzyme in degradation of microplastics

This review examines the role of cutinase enzymes produced by bacteria and fungi in degrading various types of microplastics and plastic films. The study suggests that while enzymatic biodegradation shows promise as a remediation strategy, the diversity of microplastic types and their associated contaminants present significant challenges for effective environmental cleanup.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 54 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Trends in the Use of Lipases: A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis

This bibliometric analysis and systematic review mapped research trends on lipase enzymes and their industrial applications from 2018 to 2022, identifying biofuel production, food processing, and bioremediation as dominant application areas. While not directly about microplastics, lipases are relevant because certain microbial lipases have shown potential for biodegrading plastic polymers.

2023 Foods 11 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

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
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

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

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

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

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

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

A Review of Cross-Disciplinary Approaches for the Identification of Novel Industrially Relevant Plastic-Degrading Enzymes

This review surveys cross-disciplinary research identifying microbial enzymes capable of degrading synthetic plastics, highlighting promising candidates from bacteria and fungi that could be engineered for industrial-scale plastic biodegradation.

2022 Sustainability 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Breakthrough in polyurethane bio-recycling: An efficient laccase-mediated system for the degradation of different types of polyurethanes

A laccase-mediated enzymatic system efficiently degraded multiple types of polyurethane plastics in aqueous solution at mild conditions, breaking polymer chains and reducing molecular weight within days, offering a green biotechnology approach to managing polyurethane waste that conventional recycling and chemical degradation struggle to address.

2021 Waste Management 70 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

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

Environmental impact and mitigation of micro(nano)plastics pollution using green catalytic tools and green analytical methods

Researchers reviewed the growing problem of microplastics and nanoplastics in the environment, then assessed enzyme-based strategies for breaking them down, finding that enzymes specifically targeting plastic polymer structures offer a promising, sustainable approach to degradation, especially when stabilized on nanomaterials to extend their activity.

2022 Green Analytical Chemistry 50 citations
Article Tier 2

Isolation of a soil bacterium for remediation of polyurethane and low-density polyethylene: a promising tool towards sustainable cleanup of the environment.

A soil bacterium tentatively classified in the Pseudomonas genus was found to biodegrade both polyurethane and low-density polyethylene plastics. The discovery of a single bacterial strain capable of degrading two different types of plastic is a step toward developing practical microbial tools for plastic waste remediation.

2021 3 Biotech
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

Impact of Microplastics on the Environment and Human/Animal Health and Their Enzymatic Removal

This review covers the environmental and health impacts of microplastics across ecosystems and discusses enzymatic degradation approaches, examining how identified plastic-degrading enzymes could be engineered or deployed at scale to reduce MP persistence in the environment.

2025