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Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics
Plastic waste in the environment is a significant threat due to its resistance to biological processes. Here we report the ability of fungal strains found on floating plastic debris to degrade plastics. In particular, we wanted to know which fungi grow on plastic debris floating in the shoreline, wh...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6104954/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30133489 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202047 |
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author | Brunner, Ivano Fischer, Moira Rüthi, Joel Stierli, Beat Frey, Beat |
author_facet | Brunner, Ivano Fischer, Moira Rüthi, Joel Stierli, Beat Frey, Beat |
author_sort | Brunner, Ivano |
collection | PubMed |
description | Plastic waste in the environment is a significant threat due to its resistance to biological processes. Here we report the ability of fungal strains found on floating plastic debris to degrade plastics. In particular, we wanted to know which fungi grow on plastic debris floating in the shoreline, whether these fungi have the ability to degrade plastics, whether the plastic-degrading fungi can degrade other complex C-polymers such as lignin, and whether lignin-degraders vice versa can also break down plastics. Overall, more than a hundred fungal strains were isolated from plastic debris of the shoreline of Lake Zurich, Switzerland, and grouped morphologically. Representative strains of these groups were then selected and genetically identified, altogether twelve different fungal species and one species of Oomycota. The list of fungi included commonly occurring saprotrophic fungi but also some plant pathogens. These fungal strains were then used to test the ability to degrade polyethylene and polyurethane. The tests showed that none of the strains were able to degrade polyethylene. However, four strains were able to degrade polyurethane, the three litter-saprotrophic fungi Cladosporium cladosporioides, Xepiculopsis graminea, and Penicillium griseofulvum and the plant pathogen Leptosphaeria sp. A series of additional fungi with an origin other than from plastic debris were tested as well. Here, only the two litter-saprotrophic fungi Agaricus bisporus and Marasmius oreades showed the capability to degrade polyurethane. In contrast, wood-saprotrophic fungi and ectomycorrhizal fungi were unable to degrade polyurethane. Overall, it seems that in majority only a few litter-saprotrophic fungi, which possess a wide variety of enzymes, have the ability to degrade polyurethane. None of the fungi tested was able to degrade polyethylene. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6104954 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-61049542018-09-15 Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics Brunner, Ivano Fischer, Moira Rüthi, Joel Stierli, Beat Frey, Beat PLoS One Research Article Plastic waste in the environment is a significant threat due to its resistance to biological processes. Here we report the ability of fungal strains found on floating plastic debris to degrade plastics. In particular, we wanted to know which fungi grow on plastic debris floating in the shoreline, whether these fungi have the ability to degrade plastics, whether the plastic-degrading fungi can degrade other complex C-polymers such as lignin, and whether lignin-degraders vice versa can also break down plastics. Overall, more than a hundred fungal strains were isolated from plastic debris of the shoreline of Lake Zurich, Switzerland, and grouped morphologically. Representative strains of these groups were then selected and genetically identified, altogether twelve different fungal species and one species of Oomycota. The list of fungi included commonly occurring saprotrophic fungi but also some plant pathogens. These fungal strains were then used to test the ability to degrade polyethylene and polyurethane. The tests showed that none of the strains were able to degrade polyethylene. However, four strains were able to degrade polyurethane, the three litter-saprotrophic fungi Cladosporium cladosporioides, Xepiculopsis graminea, and Penicillium griseofulvum and the plant pathogen Leptosphaeria sp. A series of additional fungi with an origin other than from plastic debris were tested as well. Here, only the two litter-saprotrophic fungi Agaricus bisporus and Marasmius oreades showed the capability to degrade polyurethane. In contrast, wood-saprotrophic fungi and ectomycorrhizal fungi were unable to degrade polyurethane. Overall, it seems that in majority only a few litter-saprotrophic fungi, which possess a wide variety of enzymes, have the ability to degrade polyurethane. None of the fungi tested was able to degrade polyethylene. Public Library of Science 2018-08-22 /pmc/articles/PMC6104954/ /pubmed/30133489 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202047 Text en © 2018 Brunner et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Brunner, Ivano Fischer, Moira Rüthi, Joel Stierli, Beat Frey, Beat Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics |
title | Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics |
title_full | Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics |
title_fullStr | Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics |
title_full_unstemmed | Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics |
title_short | Ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics |
title_sort | ability of fungi isolated from plastic debris floating in the shoreline of a lake to degrade plastics |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6104954/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30133489 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202047 |
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