Department of Genetic Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology (CET), SRM Institute of Science and Technology, SRM Nagar, Kattankulathur, Kanchipuram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 603 203, India.
Arch Microbiol. 2024 Oct 21;206(11):441. doi: 10.1007/s00203-024-04165-3.
Plastic waste accumulation has lately been identified as the leading and pervasive environmental concern, harming all living beings, natural habitats, and the global market. Given this issue, developing ecologically friendly solutions, such as biodegradation instead of standard disposal, is critical. To effectively address and develop better strategies, it is critical to understand the inter-relationship between microorganisms and plastic, the role of genes and enzymes involved in this process. However, the complex nature of microbial communities and the diverse mechanisms involved in plastic biodegradation have hindered the development of efficient plastic waste degradation strategies. Omics-driven approaches, encompassing genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics have revolutionized our understanding of microbial ecology and biotechnology. Therefore, this review explores the application of omics technologies in plastic degradation studies and discusses the key findings, challenges, and future prospects of omics-based approaches in identifying novel plastic-degrading microorganisms, enzymes, and metabolic pathways. The integration of omics technologies with advanced molecular technologies such as the recombinant DNA technology and synthetic biology would guide in the optimization of microbial consortia and engineering the microbial systems for enhanced plastic biodegradation under various environmental conditions.
塑料废物积累最近已被确定为主要和普遍存在的环境问题，对所有生物、自然栖息地和全球市场都造成了危害。鉴于这个问题，开发生态友好型解决方案，如生物降解而不是标准处理，至关重要。为了有效地解决和制定更好的策略，了解微生物和塑料之间的相互关系、参与这一过程的基因和酶的作用至关重要。然而，微生物群落的复杂性以及塑料生物降解所涉及的各种机制，阻碍了高效塑料废物降解策略的发展。基于组学的方法，包括基因组学、转录组学和蛋白质组学，彻底改变了我们对微生物生态学和生物技术的理解。因此，本综述探讨了组学技术在塑料降解研究中的应用，并讨论了基于组学的方法在识别新型塑料降解微生物、酶和代谢途径方面的关键发现、挑战和未来前景。组学技术与先进的分子技术（如重组 DNA 技术和合成生物学）的整合，将指导优化微生物群落和工程微生物系统，以在各种环境条件下增强塑料生物降解。
