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Isolation of a novel Pseudomonas sp from soil that can efficiently degrade polyethylene succinate

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Abstract

Purpose

Polyethylene succinate (PES) is a biodegradable synthetic polymer and therefore widely used as a base material in plastic industry to circumvent the environmental problems related with the non-biodegradability of other polymers like polyethylene. Till date only few organisms have been reported to have the ability to degrade PES. Therefore for better management of PES-related environmental waste, the present study is targeted towards isolating mesophilic organism(s) capable of more efficient degradation of PES.

Results

Strain AKS2 was isolated from soil based on survival on a selection plate wherein PES was used as sole carbon source. Ribotyping and biochemical tests revealed that AKS2 is a new strain of Pseudomonas. Scanning electron and atomic force microscopic analysis of the PES films obtained after incubation with AKS2 confirmed PES-degradation ability of AKS2, wherein an alteration in surface topology was observed. The kinetics of PES weight loss showed that AKS2 degrades PES maximally during its logarithmic growth phase at a rate of 1.65 mg/day. This degradation is mediated by esterase activity and may also involve cell-surface hydrophobicity. It has also been observed that AKS2 is able to degrade PES considerably even in the presence of glucose, which is likely to increase the bioremediation potential of this isolate.

Conclusion

A new strain of Pseudomonas has been isolated from soil that is able to adhere to PES and degrade this polymer efficiently. This organism has the potential to be implemented as a useful tool for bioremediation of PES-derived materials.

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank Dr. Srimonti Sarkar for her helpful comments and valuable discussions during the tenure of the work. PT is supported by CSIR-Junior Research Fellowship, Government of India. SS is supported by a fellowship from Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. KM is supported by a fellowship from University of Calcutta. This work is supported by a grant-in-aid for scientific research from Department of Science and Technology, Government of West Bengal, India.

Competing interests

Authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Calcutta, 35 B. C. Road, Kolkata, 700019, India

    Prosun Tribedi, Subhasis Sarkar, Koushik Mukherjee & Alok K. Sil

Authors
  1. Prosun Tribedi
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  2. Subhasis Sarkar
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  3. Koushik Mukherjee
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  4. Alok K. Sil
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alok K. Sil.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Supplementary Fig. 1

AKS2 and AKS9 exhibit similar level of esterase activity. AKS2 and AKS9 were grown to mid-log phase in PES broth and harvested. Lysates were made and pNPA assay was performed utilizing equal amount of protein. Specific activity for each was determined and plotted. U denotes activity of the enzyme. The result represents the average of three independent experiments. Error bar indicates standard deviation (±SD) (JPEG 4 kb)

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Tribedi, P., Sarkar, S., Mukherjee, K. et al. Isolation of a novel Pseudomonas sp from soil that can efficiently degrade polyethylene succinate. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 2115–2124 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-011-0711-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-011-0711-1

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