Olabemiwo Fatai A, Huang Yuting, Thompson Macy, Omar Hanan, Kalra Siddhant, Arevalo Philip, Nazzaro Valerie, Cohan Frederick M
Department of Biology Wesleyan University Middletown Connecticut USA.
College of Integrative Science Wesleyan University Middletown Connecticut USA.
mLife. 2025 Jul 28;4(4):465-469. doi: 10.1002/mlf2.70023. eCollection 2025 Aug.
This study identified potential plastic-degrading microorganisms and enzymes in agricultural soils using a novel two-phase enrichment approach. By culturing agricultural soil in a Winogradsky column supplemented with polyethylene (PE) sheets, followed by culture in minimal medium with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) microplastic, we identified 192 genes specifically upregulated in LDPE conditions, including 10 genes encoding known plastizymes and 182 genes encoding putative plastic-degrading enzymes. Detailed enzyme classification revealed predominant roles for oxygenases (20%) and dehydrogenases (19%), with specific subclasses showing distinct distribution patterns. These findings expand our understanding of microbial responses to plastics in agricultural environments and provide a foundation for developing bioremediation strategies to address plastic contamination in soils.
本研究采用一种新型的两相富集方法，在农业土壤中鉴定出潜在的塑料降解微生物和酶。通过在补充了聚乙烯（PE）片材的维诺格拉茨基柱中培养农业土壤，随后在含有低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）微塑料的基本培养基中培养，我们鉴定出192个在LDPE条件下特异性上调的基因，其中包括10个编码已知塑料酶的基因和182个编码推定塑料降解酶的基因。详细的酶分类显示加氧酶（20%）和脱氢酶（19%）起主要作用，特定亚类呈现出不同的分布模式。这些发现扩展了我们对农业环境中微生物对塑料反应的理解，并为制定生物修复策略以解决土壤中的塑料污染提供了基础。
