IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i11p1941-d236281.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biodegradation of Polyethylene by Enterobacter sp. D1 from the Guts of Wax Moth Galleria mellonella

Author

Listed:
  • Liu Ren

    (College of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Normal University, No. 1 Shida Road., Limin Economic Development Zone, Harbin 150025, China
    Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street., Beijing 100081, China)

  • Lina Men

    (College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China)

  • Zhiwei Zhang

    (College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China)

  • Feifei Guan

    (Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street., Beijing 100081, China)

  • Jian Tian

    (Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street., Beijing 100081, China)

  • Bin Wang

    (Institute of Soil Fertilizer and Agricultural Water Saving, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China)

  • Jihua Wang

    (College of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Normal University, No. 1 Shida Road., Limin Economic Development Zone, Harbin 150025, China)

  • Yuhong Zhang

    (Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street., Beijing 100081, China)

  • Wei Zhang

    (Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 12 Zhongguancun South Street., Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract

Plastic polymers are widely used in agriculture, industry, and our daily life because of their convenient and economic properties. However, pollution caused by plastic polymers, especially polyethylene (PE), affects both animal and human health when they aggregate in the environment, as they are not easily degraded under natural conditions. In this study, Enterobacter sp. D1 was isolated from the guts of wax moth ( Galleria mellonella ). Microbial colonies formed around a PE film after 14 days of cultivation with D1. Roughness, depressions, and cracks were detected on the surface of the PE film by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed the presence of carbonyl functional groups and ether groups on the PE film that was treated with D1. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) also revealed that the contents of certain alcohols, esters, and acids were increased as a result of the D1 treatment, indicating that oxidation reaction occurred on the surface of the PE film treated with D1 bacteria. These observations confirmed that D1 bacteria has an ability to degrade PE.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu Ren & Lina Men & Zhiwei Zhang & Feifei Guan & Jian Tian & Bin Wang & Jihua Wang & Yuhong Zhang & Wei Zhang, 2019. "Biodegradation of Polyethylene by Enterobacter sp. D1 from the Guts of Wax Moth Galleria mellonella," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-11, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:1941-:d:236281
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1941/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1941/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. A. Sanluis-Verdes & P. Colomer-Vidal & F. Rodriguez-Ventura & M. Bello-Villarino & M. Spinola-Amilibia & E. Ruiz-Lopez & R. Illanes-Vicioso & P. Castroviejo & R. Aiese Cigliano & M. Montoya & P. Falab, 2022. "Wax worm saliva and the enzymes therein are the key to polyethylene degradation by Galleria mellonella," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:1941-:d:236281. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.