Bioremediation of Plastic Pollution to Conserve Biodiversity (2024-2025)
Despite the staggering volume of plastic debris produced annually and the clear environmental and human health impacts, plastic waste continues to accumulate. To address this issue, researchers have identified microbes that can convert plastic polymers into biodegradable products.
This project team had two primary goals. The first was to optimize its newly generated microbial systems for high-efficiency plastic degradation. Previous teams used a bioinformatics and 3D protein structure prediction approach to discover a new bacterial species, Pseudomonas stutzeri, and show that it degrades plastic.
Based on previous research, team members hypothesized that increasing the temperature of plastic would make it easier to degrade. To test this, they bioengineered a system to express a temperature-tolerant plastic degrading enzyme in a temperature-tolerant bacterium, Thermus thermophilus. They tested the plastic-degrading capacity of this new system across temperatures (37-70°C) using measurement of dry plastic.
The team’s second major goal was to determine the harmful effects of plastic on cellular health. Past teams cataloged the many chemicals added to plastics. Analysis of these plastic additives revealed over 100 known carcinogens, with thousands more that have not been tested. The team treated cell cultures with some of the currently untested additives to better understand whether they may cause cancer.
Timing
Summer 2024 – Spring 2025
Team Outputs
Peer-reviewed manuscripts
Development and testing of a novel enzyme to degrade plastic
Data on plastic additives as potential carcinogens
Website for searching health endpoints of plastic additives
See earlier related team, Bioremediation of Plastic Pollution to Conserve Biodiversity (2023-2024).
Image: Ocean plastic pollution message, by Andy D’Agorne, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0