Microbial degradation and other environmental aspects of microplastics/plastics.

By Jian-mei Yuan, Jie Ma, Yiran Sun, Tao Zhou, Youcai Zhao, Fei Yu. Science of the Total Environment, 2020

651 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Microplastic (MP) pollution is a significant environmental concern due to the persistence of MPs and their potential adverse effects on biota. Most scientific studies have examined the distribution, ingestion, fate, behavior, amount, and effect of MPs. However, few studies have described the development of methods for the removal and remediation of MPs. Therefore, in this review, we summarize the recent literature regarding the microbial-mediated degradation of MPs and discuss the associated degradation characteristics and mechanisms. Different types and combinations of microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, bacterial consortia, and biofilms, that can degrade different MPs are categorized. This article summarizes approximately 50 recent papers. Twelve and 6 papers reported that bacteria and fungi, respectively, can degrade MPs. Nine articles indicated that bacterial consortia have the ability to degrade MPs, and 6 articles found that biofilms can also utilize MPs. Furthermore, to evaluate their associated degradation effects, the corresponding structural changes (i.e., macro size, surface morphology, and functional groups) in MPs after microbial degradation are examined. In addition, MP biodegradation is affected by microbial characteristics and environmental factors; therefore, the environmental factors (i.e., temperature, pH and strain activity) influencing MP degradation and the associated degradation effects (i.e., weight loss, degradation rate, and molecular weight change) are generalized. Furthermore, the mechanisms associated with the microbial-mediated degradation of MPs are briefly discussed. Finally, prospects for the degradation of MPs using microbes and future research directions are envisioned. This review provides the first systematic summary of the microbial-mediated degradation of MPs and provides a reference for future studies investigating effective means of MP pollution control.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c9e2361d249f3a3c3a678c924884076731d1bd5a

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In Biomaterials

1. Yuhuan Sun
2. C. Adams
3. Fayuan Wang
4. Shuwu Zhang

In Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

1. Yuhuan Sun
2. C. Adams
3. Fayuan Wang
4. Shuwu Zhang

In Pollution

1. Quanlong Wang
2. Yuhuan Sun
3. C. Adams
4. Fayuan Wang
5. Shuwu Zhang

Citations in the corpus

• Interactions between microplastics and soil fauna: A critical review (2021, background): “…through gut digestive activity (Kwak & An, 2021), providing direct evidence that ingestion by earthworms can facilitate the fragmentation of MPs. Generally, MPs can be degraded by microbes such as bacteria, fungi and mixed microbial biofilms (Yuan et al., 2020), but not directly by soil animals.”
• Impact of Microplastics and Nanoplastics on Human Health (2021, background): “Extracellular enzymes produced by these living organisms have the ability to break down the chemical bonds within plastics [29].”
• Algal cellulose, production and potential use in plastics: Challenges and opportunities (2021, background): “, smothering marine organisms that make up the base of our food chain [4].”