Journal Article

Biodegradation of low-density polyethylene by mixed fungi composed of Alternaria sp. and Trametes sp. isolated from landfill sites

Zhuo, Ye, Jin, Long, Lee, Hyung-Gwan, Hu, Shuang, Jin, Feng-Jie, Yang, Wei-Kang, Gong, Zhu, Wang, Bao-Teng, Jin, Chun-Zhi

2024

Overview

With the development of industry and modern manufacturing, nondegradable low-density polyethylene (LDPE) has been widely used, posing a rising environmental hazard to natural ecosystems and public health. In this study, we isolated a series of LDPE-degrading fungi from landfill sites and carried out LDPE degradation experiments by combining highly efficient degrading fungi in pairs. The results showed that the mixed microorganisms composed of Alternaria sp. CPEF-1 and Trametes sp. PE2F-4 (H-3 group) had a greater degradation effect on heat-treated LDPE (T-LDPE). After 30 days of inoculation with combination strain H-3, the weight loss rate of the T-LDPE film was approximately 154% higher than that of the untreated LDPE (U-LDPE) film, and the weight loss rate reached 0.66 ± 0.06%. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to further investigate the biodegradation impacts of T-LDPE, including the changes on the surface and depolymerization of the LDPE films during the fungal degradation process. Our findings revealed that the combined fungal treatment is more effective at degrading T-LDPE than the single strain treatment, and it is expected that properly altering the composition of the microbial community can help lessen the detrimental impact of plastics on the environment.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Alternaria / Alternaria - metabolism / Alternaria sp. CPEF-1 / Biodegradation / Biodegradation, Environmental / Biological Microscopy / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Carbon / Density / Depolymerization / Domestication / Environmental hazards / Enzymes / Experiments / Fourier transforms / Fungi / Heat treatment / High density polyethylenes / Hydrocarbons / Industrial development / Infrared spectroscopy / Inoculation / Laccase / Landfill / Landfills / Life Sciences / Low density polyethylenes / Low-density polyethylene / Methods / Microbiology / Microorganisms / Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Mycology / Oxidases / Oxidation / Parasitology / Pesticides / Phylogeny / Plastic pollution / Plastic scrap / Pollutants / Polyethylene / Polyethylene - metabolism / Properties / Public health / Refuse and refuse disposal / Scanning electron microscopy / Soil Microbiology / Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared / Trametes / Trametes - metabolism / Trametes sp. PE2F-4 / Virology / Waste Disposal Facilities / Waste disposal sites / Waste management / Weight loss