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Microbial communities responsible for the degradation of poly(lactic acid)/poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) blend mulches in soil burial respirometric tests

World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology volume 34, Article number: 101 (2018) Cite this article

Abstract

The microbial communities responsible for the degradation of poly(lactic acid)/poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PLA/PHB) blend foils were investigated in 1 year long laboratory soil burial experiments. Different PLA/PHB foils were tested: (a) PLA/PHB original transparent foil, (b) PLA/PHB carbon black filled foil and (c) PLA/PHB black foil previously exposed for 90 days to sun light. The microbiome diversity of these three types of foil was compared with that identified from soil/perlite sample at the beginning of experiment and that developed on a cellulose mat. Culture-dependent and culture-independent (DGGE-cloning) approaches together with PLA, PHB and PLA/PHB degradation plate assays were employed. The cultivation strategy combined with degradation tests permitted the isolation and evaluation of several PLA/PHB blend degrading microorganisms such as members of the genera Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Streptomyces, Rhodococcus, Saccharothrix, Arthrobacter, Aureobasidium, Mortierella, Absidia, Actinomucor, Bjerkandera, Fusarium, Trichoderma and Penicillium. The DGGE-cloning investigation increased the information about the microbial communities occurring during bioplastic degradation detecting several bacterial and fungal taxa and some of them (members of the orders Anaerolineales, Selenomonadales, Thelephorales and of the genera Pseudogymnoascus and Pseudeurotium) were revealed here for the first time. This survey showed the microbiome colonizing PLA/PHB blend foils and permitted the isolation of several microorganisms able to degrade the tested polymeric blends.

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Acknowledgements

The work was mainly supported by the grant APVV-15-0528 “Modified polymers from renewable resources and their degradation”. This contribution is also the result of the projects VEGA 2/0158/17 and ITMS-26240220010 in the frame of the support program Research and Development of the European Regional Development Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Biology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 21, 845 51, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Lenka Jeszeová, Andrea Puškárová, Mária Bučková, Lucia Kraková, Tomáš Grivalský & Domenico Pangallo

  2. Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 41, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Martin Danko, Katarína Mosnáčková & Štefan Chmela

  3. Caravella s.r.o., Tupolevova 2, 851 01, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Domenico Pangallo

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  1. Lenka Jeszeová
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  2. Andrea Puškárová
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Correspondence to Domenico Pangallo.

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Jeszeová, L., Puškárová, A., Bučková, M. et al. Microbial communities responsible for the degradation of poly(lactic acid)/poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) blend mulches in soil burial respirometric tests. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 34, 101 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-018-2483-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-018-2483-y

Keywords

  • Poly(lactic acid)/poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) blend
  • Microbiome
  • Bacteria
  • Fungi
  • Polymer degradation plate assays