Spores and Self-Destructing Plastic: Microbial Minutes
Scientists developed “self-destructing” plastic by incorporating spores of plastic-degrading bacteria into the plastic matrix.
What's Hot in the Microbial Sciences?
Our world is covered in plastic—and it’s not fantastic. Most of the plastic we use ends up in landfills or the environment where it can take many years to break down. But what if the plastic could sort of…self-destruct? This is possible with the help of microbes. Scientists recently produced a type of polyurethane, a commonly used plastic, containing spores of plastic-degrading bacteria. When the spores germinate, the bacteria munch away at the plastic, causing it to disintegrate relatively quickly. This advancement is just one of many ways in which scientists are harnessing the metabolic prowess of microbes to help solve some of the biggest challenges of our time. Key take-aways and resources from this Microbial Minutes are listed below.Key Take-Aways
- Humans produce 400 million tons of plastic every year, only 10% of which is recycled. Microbes can be harnessed to degrade some of this waste.
- Researchers mixed spores of Bacillus subtilis that had been experimentally evolved to withstand high temperatures into thermoplastic polyurethane (TUP), a type of commonly used plastic.
- When the spores germinate, the resulting vegetative cells degrade the TUP. After incubation for 5 months in compost, TUP harboring spores lost ~93% of its mass. Without spores, the TUP lost ~44% of its mass.
- The results highlight the potential of using spores to produce strong plastics (or other materials) that are also equipped with the “tools” for their own breakdown.
Resources
Featured Study
- Kim H.S., et al. Biocomposite thermoplastic polyurethanes containing evolved bacterial spores as living fillers to facilitate polymer disintegration. .
Additional Sources
- Briggs, H. Plastic-eating bacteria can help waste self-destruct. .
- Buczek, M. Digesting the Indigestible: How Microbes are Chewing up our Big Plastic Problem. American Society for ý, July 27, 2018.
- Hunt, G. Beware the Plastics. Microcosm, June 1, 2022.
- Phillips, E. Microbial Bioplastic Degradation. American Society for ý, Nov. 12, 2021.
- Su Y., et al. Bacillus subtilis: a universal cell factory for industry, agriculture, biomaterials and medicine. .
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