Abstract
The biodegradation of rubber materials is considered as a sustainable recycling alternative, highlighting the use of microorganisms and enzymes in oxidative processes of natural rubber. Currently, the main challenge is the treatment of rubber materials such as waste tyres, where the mixture of rubber polymers with different additives and the cross-linked structure obtained due to the vulcanisation process positions them as highly persistent materials. This study characterises the degradation of different rubber-containing substrates in in vivo and in vitro processes using the bacterium Rhodococcus rhodochrous and the oxygenase latex clearing protein (Lcp) from the same strain. For the first time, the degradation of polyisoprene particles in liquid cultures of R. rhodochrous was analysed, obtaining up to 19.32% mass loss of the polymer when using it as the only carbon source. Scanning electron microscopy analysis demonstrated surface alteration of pure polyisoprene and vulcanised rubber particles after 2 weeks of incubation. The enzyme LcpRR was produced in bioreactors under rhamnose induction and its activity characterised in oxygen consumption assays at different enzyme concentrations. A maximum consumption of 28.38 µmolO2/min was obtained by adding 100 µg/mL LcpRR to a 2% (v/v) latex emulsion as substrate. The bioconversion of natural rubber into reaction degradation products or oligoisoprenoids was calculated to be 32.54%. Furthermore, the mass distribution of the oligoisoprenoids was analysed by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and 17 degradation products, ranging from C20 to C100 oligoisoprenoids, were identified. The multi-enzymatic degradation capacity of R. rhodochrous positions it as a model microorganism in complex degradation processes such as in the case of tyre waste.
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Abbreviations
- ATR-FTIR:
-
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance
- CBS:
-
N-Cyclohexyl-2-benzothiazole sulphenamide
- ELTs:
-
End of life tires
- HPLC-ESI-MS:
-
High-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry
- IPPD:
-
N-Isopropyl-Nʹ-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine
- IR:
-
Synthetic polyisoprene
- LB:
-
Luria Bertani
- Lcp:
-
Latex clearing protein
- LLE:
-
Liquid–liquid extraction
- MBT:
-
2-Mercaptobenzothiazole
- MSM:
-
Mineral salt medium
- NR:
-
Natural rubber
- 6PPD:
-
N-(1,3-Dimethylbutyl)- Nʹ-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine
- RoxA:
-
Rubber oxygenase A
- RoxB:
-
Rubber oxygenase B
- SBR:
-
Styrene butadiene rubber
- SDS-PAGE:
-
Sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscope
- TBBS:
-
N-tert-Butyl-2-benzothiazole sulphenamide
- TMQ:
-
2,2,4-Trimethyl-1,2-dihydroquinoline
- VRP:
-
Vulcanised rubber particles
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the receipt of the Fondecyt Grant 11190220 from ANID (Chile). We are very grateful to Prof. Dr. Dieter Jendrossek of the University of Stuttgart for providing the microorganism and the plasmid used in this study.
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Rodrigo Andler: conceptualization, resources, supervision, project administration, writing – review and editing. Camila Guajardo: investigation, writing – original draft. Catalina Sepúlveda: investigation, writing – original draft. Valentina Pino: investigation, methodology. Vilma Sanhueza: investigation, writing – original draft. Vivian D'Afonseca: investigation, writing and editing.
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Andler, R., Guajardo, C., Sepúlveda, C. et al. Biodegradation of rubber in cultures of Rhodococcus rhodochrous and by its enzyme latex clearing protein. Biodegradation 33, 609–620 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-022-09998-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-022-09998-7