Synergistic biodegradation of aromatic-aliphatic copolyester plastic by a marine microbial consortium

The degradation of synthetic polymers by marine microorganisms is not as well understood as the degradation of plastics in soil and compost. Here, we use metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metaproteomics to study the biodegradation of an aromatic-aliphatic copolyester blend by a marine microbial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2020-11, Vol.11 (1), p.5790-5790, Article 5790
Main Authors: Meyer-Cifuentes, Ingrid E., Werner, Johannes, Jehmlich, Nico, Will, Sabine E., Neumann-Schaal, Meina, Öztürk, Başak
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
38/91
45/23
631/326/2522
631/326/2565/2142
82/81
Aliphatic compounds
Biodegradation
Carbon dioxide
Carbon sources
Consortia
Degradation products
Enrichment media
Enzymes
Humanities and Social Sciences
Marine microorganisms
Metagenomics
Microorganisms
multidisciplinary
Plastics
Polymer films
Polymers
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:The degradation of synthetic polymers by marine microorganisms is not as well understood as the degradation of plastics in soil and compost. Here, we use metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metaproteomics to study the biodegradation of an aromatic-aliphatic copolyester blend by a marine microbial enrichment culture. The culture can use the plastic film as the sole carbon source, reaching maximum conversion to CO 2 and biomass in around 15 days. The consortium degrades the polymer synergistically, with different degradation steps being performed by different community members. We identify six putative PETase-like enzymes and four putative MHETase-like enzymes, with the potential to degrade aliphatic-aromatic polymers and their degradation products, respectively. Our results show that, although there are multiple genes and organisms with the potential to perform each degradation step, only a few are active during biodegradation. The degradation of plastics by marine microbes is not well understood. Here, Meyer-Cifuentes et al. use a meta-omics approach to study the biodegradation of an aromatic-aliphatic copolyester blend by a marine microbial enrichment culture, showing that different degradation steps are performed by different microorganisms.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-020-19583-2