Research Projects

Research Organisation Partners

• InnoRenew CoE – Renewable Materials and Healthy Environments Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence
•  EcoPast research group, Santiago de Compostela University, Spain
•  Institute of Water Research, University of Granada, Spain 

Abstract

Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time. Global plastic production and plastic waste are increasing at an alarming rate. Plastic waste is being dumped into the environment in huge quantities. Even recycling and incineration come with a number of technical, economic and environmental shortcomings. Biodegradation of traditional plastic polymers with microorganisms thus represents a much needed addition to methods of handling plastic waste and polluted environments.

Biodegradation of plastics using single microorganisms or isolated enzymes under controlled laboratory conditions has yielded some promising results. However, the application of this approach on a large scale remains impractical. Plastic waste in the real world is chemically complex, highly variable and often contaminated. It is unlikely that we will be able to efficiently use a single microbial species for solving such a difficult problem. Therefore, we propose a more complex approach: the use of microbial consortia — communities of different microorganisms working together.

Our project aims to develop a microbial consortium capable of degrading three of the most common and persistent plastic polymers: Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP) and Polyamide (PA). We will form this consortium by combining environmental samples rich in microbial biodiversity with fungal species already known for their ability to degrade plastics. This approach will ensure that we capture a broad spectrum of potentially useful enzymes and biological pathways for plastic degradation.

Our research will involve several approaches. We will use high-throughput amplicon sequencing to understand community structure changes as consortia adapt to plastic degradation. We will evaluate the performance of the consortia through microscopy, spectroscopy and analysis of metabolites to gain detailed insights into the extent of plastic degradation. We will sequence the metatranscriptome of the engineered consortia to identify the genes and enzymes that are actively expressed during plastic degradation and evaluate a selection of them in heterologous systems. Finally, we will test the engineered microbial consortia on mock plastic waste, to evaluate their efficacy outside of laboratory conditions.

The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a biologically driven technology that could one day help reduce the global plastic pollution crisis and lead to a more sustainable future.

The phases of the project and their realization

The project has the following phases:

1. Engineered microbial consortium capable of (partially) degrading three common recalcitrant plastic polymers, stored in a genetically stable way.

2. Report on diversity of microbial consortia enriched on microplastics.

3. Analysis of changes in plastic polymers during microbial degradation.

4. List of genes in engineered microbial consortia with significantly increased or decreased expression when grown in the presence of plastic polymers.

5. At least three enzyme-encoding genes with increased expression on plastic substrate expressed in a heterologous system.

6. Analysis of degradation rate of mock plastic waste by engineered microbial consortia.