Habib Syahir, Iruthayam Anastasia, Abd Shukor Mohd Yunus, Alias Siti Aisyah, Smykla Jerzy, Yasid Nur Adeela
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia.
Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, C308 Institute of Postgraduate Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
Polymers (Basel). 2020 Nov 6;12(11):2616. doi: 10.3390/polym12112616.
Microplastic pollution is globally recognised as a serious environmental threat due to its ubiquitous presence related primarily to improper dumping of plastic wastes. While most studies have focused on microplastic contamination in the marine ecosystem, microplastic pollution in the soil environment is generally little understood and often overlooked. The presence of microplastics affects the soil ecosystem by disrupting the soil fertility and quality, degrading the food web, and subsequently influencing both food security and human health. This study evaluates the growth and biodegradation potential of the Antarctic soil bacteria sp. ADL15 and sp. ADL36 on the polypropylene (PP) microplastics in Bushnell Haas (BH) medium for 40 days. The degradation was monitored based on the weight loss of PP microplastics, removal rate constant per day (), and their half-life. The validity of the PP microplastics' biodegradation was assessed through structural changes via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses. The weight loss percentage of the PP microplastics by ADL15 and ADL36 after 40 days was 17.3% and 7.3%, respectively. The optimal growth in the BH media infused with PP microplastics was on the 40th and 30th day for ADL15 and ADL36, respectively. The infrared spectroscopic analysis revealed significant changes in the PP microplastics' functional groups following the incubation with Antarctic strains.
微塑料污染因其主要与塑料废物的不当倾倒相关而无处不在，已被全球公认为严重的环境威胁。虽然大多数研究都集中在海洋生态系统中的微塑料污染，但土壤环境中的微塑料污染通常鲜为人知且常被忽视。微塑料的存在会破坏土壤肥力和质量、降解食物网，进而影响粮食安全和人类健康，从而对土壤生态系统产生影响。本研究评估了南极土壤细菌ADL15菌株和ADL36菌株在布什内尔哈斯（BH）培养基中对聚丙烯（PP）微塑料40天的生长和生物降解潜力。基于PP微塑料的重量损失、每日去除率常数（）及其半衰期来监测降解情况。通过傅里叶变换红外光谱分析，依据结构变化评估PP微塑料生物降解的有效性。40天后，ADL15和ADL36对PP微塑料的重量损失百分比分别为17.3%和7.3%。在添加PP微塑料的BH培养基中，ADL15和ADL36的最佳生长分别出现在第40天和第30天。红外光谱分析表明，与南极菌株孵育后，PP微塑料的官能团发生了显著变化。
