Abstract
The biodiversity and occurrence in nature of bioplastic-degrading microorganisms are exemplified by the identification of 695 strains, isolated from different environments, such as soils, composts, natural waters, and sludge, that are able to degrade the bacterial polyester poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)in vitro. These microorganisms belong to at least 57 different taxa, including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, streptomycetes, and moulds. The literature on the biodiversity of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-degrading microorganisms is reviewed. The degrading abilities of 171 streptomycete strains were investigated on four different bacterial poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates), and the synthetic polyesters poly(ε-caprolactone) and BIONOLLE, and most of these strains degraded at least three different polymers.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson AJ and EA Dawes. 1990. Occurrence, metabolism, metabolic role, and industrial uses of bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates. Microbiol Rev 54: 450–472.
Bastioli C, A Cerutti, I Guanella, GC Romano and M Tosin. 1995. Physical state and biodegradation behavior of starch-polycaprolactone systems. J Environ Polym Degrad 3: 81–96.
Bernardet J-F, P Segers, M Vancanneyt, F Berthe, K Kersters and P Vandamme. 1996 Cutting a Gordian knot: emended classification and description of the genusFlavobacterium, emended description of the familyFlavobacteriaceae, and proposal ofFlavobacterium hydatis nom rev (basonym,Cytophaga aquatilis Strohl and Tait) 1978. Int J Syst Bacteriol 46: 128–148.
Brandl H, R Bachofen, J Mayer and E Wintermantel. 1995. Degradation and applications of polyhydroxyalkanoates. Can J Microbiol 41 (Suppl 1): 143–153.
Brandl H and P Püchner. 1992. Biodegradation of plastic bottles made from “Biopol’ in an aquatic ecosystem underin situ conditions. Biodegradation 2: 237–243
Brucato CL and SS Wong. 1991. Extracellular poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) depolymerase fromPenicillium funiculosum: general characteristics and active site studies. Arch Biochem Biophys 290: 497–502.
Budwill K, PM Fedorak and WJ Page. 1992. Methanogenic degradation of poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates). Appl Environ Microbiol 58: 1398–1401.
Chowdbury AA. 1963. Poly-β-hydroxybuttersäure abbauende Bakterien und Exoenzym. Arch Mikrobiol 47: 167–200.
Delafield FP, M Doudoroff, NJ Palleroni, J Lusty and R Contopoulos. 1965. Decomposition of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate by pseudomonads. J Bacteriol 90: 1455–1466.
Doi Y. 1990. Microbial Polyesters. VCH Publishers, New York.
Gauthier G, M Gauthier and R Christen. 1995. Phylogenetic analysis of the generaAlteromonas, Shewanella, andMoritella using genes coding for small-subunit rRNA sequences and division of the genusAlteromonas into two genera,Alteromonas (emended) andPseudoalteromonas gen nov, and proposal of twelve new species combinations. Int J Syst Bacteriol 45: 755–761.
Goldberg D. 1995. A review of the biodegradability and utility of poly(caprolactone). J Environ Polym Degrad 3: 61–68.
Haywood GW, AJ Anderson, DR Williams, EA Dawes and DF Ewing. 1991. Accumulation of a poly(hydroxyalkanoate) copolymer containing primarily 3-hydroxyvalerate from simple carbohydrate substrates byRhodococcus sp NCIMB 40126. Int J Biol Macromol 13: 83–88.
Hrabak O. 1992. Industrial production of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate. FEMS Microbiol Rev 103: 251–256.
Jaeger K-E, A Steinbüchel and D Jendrossek. 1995. Substrate specificities of bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoate depolymerases and lipases: bacterial lipases hydrolyse poly(ω-hydroxyalkanoates). Appl Environ Microbiol 61: 3113–3118.
Janssen PH and CG Harfoot. 1990.Ilyobacter delafieldii sp nov, a metabolically restricted anaerobic bacterium fermenting PHB. Arch Microbiol 154: 253–259.
Jendrossek D, A Frisse, A Behrends, M Andermann, HD Kratzin, T Stanislawski and HG Schlegel. 1995. Biochemical and molecular characterization of thePseudomonas lemoignei polyhydroxyalkanoate depolymerase system. J Bacteriol 177: 596–607.
Jendrossek D, I Knoke, RB Habibian, A Steinbüchel and HG Schlegel. 1993. Degradation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), PHB, by bacteria and purification of a novel PHB depolymerase fromComamonas sp J Environ Polym Degrad 1: 53–64.
Matavulj M and HP Molitoris. 1992. Fungal degradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates and a semiquantitative assay for screening their degradation by terrestral fungi. FEMS Microbiol Rev 103: 323–332.
Matavulj M, ST Moss and HP Molitoris. 1993. Degradation of poly-β-hydroxyalkanoate-based plastics in natural environments. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Bacterial Polyhydroxyalkanoates. Göttingen, 1992 (Schlegel HG and A Steinbüchel, eds), pp 465–466, Goltze-Drück, Göttingen.
McLellan DW and PJ Halling. 1988. Acid-tolerant poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) hydrolases from moulds. FEMS Microbiol Lett 52: 215–218.
Mergaert J, C Anderson, A Wouters and J Swings. 1994 Microbial degradation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in compost. J Environ Polym Degrad 2: 177–183.
Mergaert J, C Anderson, A Wouters, J Swings and K Kersters 1992. Biodegradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates. FEMS Microbiol Rev 103: 317–322.
Mergaert J, G Glorieux, L Hauben, V Storms, M Mau and J Swings. 1996. Biodegradation of poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates) in anaerobic sludge and characterization of a poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates) degrading anaerobic bacterium. Syst Appl Microbiol (in press).
Mergaert J, A Schirmer, L Hauben, M Mau, B Hoste, K Kersters, D Jendrossek and J Swings. 1996. Isolation and identification of poly(3-hydroxyvalerate) degrading strains ofPseudomonas lemoignei. Int J Syst Bacteriol 46: 769–773.
Mergaert J, A Webb, C Anderson, A Wouters and J Swings. 1993. Microbial degradation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in soils. Appl Environ Microbiol 59: 3233–3238.
Mergaert J, A Wouters, C Anderson and J Swings. 1995.In situ biodegradation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) in natural waters. Can J Microbiol 41 (Suppl 1): 154–159.
Mergaert J, A Wouters and J Swings. 1994. Estimation of the intrinsic biodiversity among poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates) degrading streptomycetes using gas chromatographic analysis of fatty acids. Syst Appl Microbiol 17: 601–612.
Mukai K, K Yamada and Y Doi. 1993. Enzymatic degradation of poly(hydroxybutyrate) by a marine microorganism. Polym Degrad Stab 41: 85–91.
Mukai K, K Yamada and Y Doi. 1994. Efficient hydrolysis of polyhydroxyalkanoates byPseudomonas stutzeri YM1414 isolated from lake water. Polym Degrad Stab 43: 319–327.
Nishida H and Y Tokiwa. 1993. Distribution of poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(ε-caprolactone) aerobic degrading microorganisms in different environments. J Environ Polym Degrad 1: 227–233.
Nishida H and Y Tokiwa. 1994. Degradation of poly(2-oxepanone) by phytopathogens. Chem Lett 1994: 1547–1550.
Ramsay BA, I Saracovan, JA Ramsay and RH Marchessault. 1994. A method for the isolation of microorganisms producing extracellular long-side-chain poly(β-hydroxyalkanoate) depolymerase. J Environ Polym Degrad 2: 1–7.
Schirmer A, D Jendrossek and HG Schlegel. 1993. Degradation of poly(3-hydroxyoctanoic acid) [P(3HO)] by bacteria: purification and properties of a P(3HO) depolymerase fromPseudomonas fluorescens GK13. Appl Environ Microbiol 59: 1220–1227.
Schirmer A, C Matz and D Jendrossek. 1995 Substrate specificities of poly(hydroxyalkanoate) degrading bacteria and active site studies on the extracellular poly(3-hydroxyoctanoic acid) depolymerase ofPseudomonas fluorescens GK13. Can J Microbiol 41 (Suppl 1): 170–179.
Stanier RY, NJ Palleroni and M Doudoroff. 1966. The aerobic pseudomonads: a taxonomic study. J Gen Microbiol 43: 159–271.
Steinbüchel A. 1991. Polyhydroxyalkanoic acids. In: Biomaterials (Byrom D, ed), pp 123–213, Macmillan Press, London.
Steinbüchel A and G Schmack. 1995. Large-scale production of poly(3-hydroxyvaleric acid) by fermentation ofChromobacterium violaceum, processing, and characterization of the homopolyester. J Environ Polym Degrad 3: 243–258.
Steinbüchel A and HE Valentin. 1995. Diversity of bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoic acids. FEMS Microbiol Lett 128: 219–228.
Tanio T, T Fukui, T Saito, K Tomita, T Kaito and S Masamune. 1982. An extracellular poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) depolymerase fromAlcaligenes faecalis. Eur J Biochem 124: 71–77.
Timm A and A Steinbüchel. 1990. Formation of polyesters consisting of medium-chain length 3-hydroxyalkanoic acids from gluconate byPseudomonas aeruginosa and other fluorescent pseudomonads. Appl Environ Microbiol 56: 3360–3367.
Yabuuchi E, Y Kosako, I Yano, H Hotta and Y Nishiushi. 1995. Transfer of twoBurkholderia and anAlcaligenes species toRalstonia gen nov: proposal ofRalstonia pickettii (Ralston, Palleroni and Doudoroff 1973) comb nov,Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith 1896) comb nov, andRalstonia eutropha (Davis 1969) comb nov. Microbiol Immunol 39: 897–904.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mergaert, J., Swings, J. Biodiversity of microorganisms that degrade bacterial and synthetic polyesters. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology 17, 463–469 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01574777
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01574777