One in five bacteria can be used to eliminate plastic

June 28 () –

Almost 20% of bacterial strains can degrade plastic, Although they need some encouragement to do so, and play an important role in solving this pollution problem.

Additionally, research led by Jo-Anne de Verschoor, a PhD student at Leiden University, reveals that many more bacteria than previously believed can degrade certain types of plastics. The microbiologist was able to use a large collection of Streptomyces bacteria, which were already available at the university because scientists use them in the search for new antibiotics. He publishes his findings in Communications Biology.

The bacteria Verschoor worked with were not collected with the goal of degrading plastic. “In other research, scientists sometimes look at which bacteria would thrive in a landfill,” says Verschoor. it’s a statement. This collection was unbiased in that sense. Furthermore, it consisted of a mixture of several continents.

Through his previous research, Verschoor suspected that some of these bacteria could indeed digest plastic, and he was right. In laboratory experiments, he exposed the bacteria to different substances and conditions, looking at the effects on how organisms could break down PET plastic.

External conditions are crucial because a plastic bottle does not simply disappear when it sits on the ground for a while. “Bacteria are like people in that sense,” says Verschoor. “Like us, they don’t do things automatically; they need encouragement. “We only start running when a tiger chases us.”

Similarly, bacteria surrounded by a lot of sugar, and therefore energy, will not do something that requires too much effort. However, if they are “hungry”, they will do it. This was evident during laboratory experiments in which Verschoor added plastic models to plates with bacteria. At one point, he even “fed” the bacteria with perforated pieces of plastic.

FIRST LARGE-SCALE EXPERIMENTS

The biologist, who will finish her doctorate next year, made two discoveries. First, she observed that a notable number of bacteria could degrade plastics under the right conditions: up to 18% of the strains studied. She also discovered that a gene called “lipase A” plays an important role. When present in large quantities, The organisms decomposed the plastic more quickly.

This research expands the set of bacteria that we can potentially use to degrade plastic. The future of this method of plastic recycling is promising, as demonstrated by the French company Carbios, which is the first to experiment large-scale recycling of plastics with the help of bacteria and their enzymes.