Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 141025 |
| Journal | Chemosphere |
| Volume | 349 |
| Early online date | 22 Dec 2023 |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2024 |
Abstract
Plastic materials provide numerous benefits. However, properties such as durability and resistance to degradation that make plastic attractive for variable applications likewise foster accumulation in the environment. Fragmentation of plastics leads to the formation of potentially hazardous microplastic, of which a considerable amount derives from polystyrene. Here, we investigated the biodegradation of polystyrene by the tropical sooty mold fungus Capnodium coffeae in different experimental setups. Growth of C. coffeae was stimulated significantly when cultured in presence of plastic polymers rather than in its absence. Stable isotope tracing using 13C-enriched polystyrene particles combined with cavity ring-down spectroscopy showed that the fungus mineralized polystyrene traces. However, phospholipid fatty acid stable isotope probing indicated only marginal assimilation of polystyrene- 13C by C. coffeae in liquid cultures. NMR spectroscopic analysis of residual styrene contents prior to and after incubation revealed negligible changes in concentration. Thus, this study suggests a plastiphilic life style of C. coffeae despite minor usage of plastic as a carbon source and the general capability of sooty mold fungi to stimulate polystyrene mineralization, and proposes new standards to identify and unambiguously demonstrate plastic degrading capabilities of microbes.
Keywords
- C-labeled polystyrene, Cavity ring-down spectroscopy, Phospholipid fatty acid stable isotope probing, Plastic biodegradation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine(all)
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Environmental Science(all)
- Pollution
- Chemistry(all)
- General Chemistry
- Environmental Science(all)
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
- Environmental Science(all)
- Environmental Engineering
- Environmental Science(all)
- Environmental Chemistry
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Chemosphere, Vol. 349, 141025, 02.2024.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Setting new standards
T2 - Multiphasic analysis of microplastic mineralization by fungi
AU - Rohrbach, Stephan
AU - Gkoutselis, Gerasimos
AU - Mauel, Anika
AU - Telli, Nihal
AU - Senker, Jürgen
AU - Ho Kah Wye, Adrian
AU - Rambold, Gerhard
AU - Horn, Marcus Andreas
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - Plastic materials provide numerous benefits. However, properties such as durability and resistance to degradation that make plastic attractive for variable applications likewise foster accumulation in the environment. Fragmentation of plastics leads to the formation of potentially hazardous microplastic, of which a considerable amount derives from polystyrene. Here, we investigated the biodegradation of polystyrene by the tropical sooty mold fungus Capnodium coffeae in different experimental setups. Growth of C. coffeae was stimulated significantly when cultured in presence of plastic polymers rather than in its absence. Stable isotope tracing using 13C-enriched polystyrene particles combined with cavity ring-down spectroscopy showed that the fungus mineralized polystyrene traces. However, phospholipid fatty acid stable isotope probing indicated only marginal assimilation of polystyrene- 13C by C. coffeae in liquid cultures. NMR spectroscopic analysis of residual styrene contents prior to and after incubation revealed negligible changes in concentration. Thus, this study suggests a plastiphilic life style of C. coffeae despite minor usage of plastic as a carbon source and the general capability of sooty mold fungi to stimulate polystyrene mineralization, and proposes new standards to identify and unambiguously demonstrate plastic degrading capabilities of microbes.
AB - Plastic materials provide numerous benefits. However, properties such as durability and resistance to degradation that make plastic attractive for variable applications likewise foster accumulation in the environment. Fragmentation of plastics leads to the formation of potentially hazardous microplastic, of which a considerable amount derives from polystyrene. Here, we investigated the biodegradation of polystyrene by the tropical sooty mold fungus Capnodium coffeae in different experimental setups. Growth of C. coffeae was stimulated significantly when cultured in presence of plastic polymers rather than in its absence. Stable isotope tracing using 13C-enriched polystyrene particles combined with cavity ring-down spectroscopy showed that the fungus mineralized polystyrene traces. However, phospholipid fatty acid stable isotope probing indicated only marginal assimilation of polystyrene- 13C by C. coffeae in liquid cultures. NMR spectroscopic analysis of residual styrene contents prior to and after incubation revealed negligible changes in concentration. Thus, this study suggests a plastiphilic life style of C. coffeae despite minor usage of plastic as a carbon source and the general capability of sooty mold fungi to stimulate polystyrene mineralization, and proposes new standards to identify and unambiguously demonstrate plastic degrading capabilities of microbes.
KW - C-labeled polystyrene
KW - Cavity ring-down spectroscopy
KW - Phospholipid fatty acid stable isotope probing
KW - Plastic biodegradation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85181677024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.141025
DO - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.141025
M3 - Article
VL - 349
JO - Chemosphere
JF - Chemosphere
SN - 0045-6535
M1 - 141025
ER -