Plastic Degradation by Insects and Intestinal Microorganisms:Research Status and Mechanisms
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Abstract:
The research status and mechanisms of insect and intestinal microorganism-based plastic degradation are reviewed herein. Based on the current research status and considering the influence of multiple factors in the degradation process, two main approaches for investigating plastic degradation have been proposed: (1) Insects with high plastic-degrading rates are screened from a collection of plastic-degrading insects, and plastic-degrading bacterial strains are isolated from their intestines. The isolated bacterial strains are enriched and formed into bacterial pellets, which are subsequently used to improve plastic degradation rates in conjunction with factors affecting plastic degradation such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation, pH, temperature, mechanical comminution, degradation substrate, and hydrophobicity altering substances; (2) Next-generation sequencing (NGS), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) used in combination with omics fields, such as proteomics, metabolomics, and transcriptomics to investigate the key nodes and proteins of insect and intestinal microorganism-based plastic degradation. Additionally, the mechanisms by which enzymes are triggered during degradation, endocrine regulation during plastic ingestion, and cooperative degradation by heterogeneous microorganisms belonging to different genera are investigated. The findings of this review serve as a reference for the future development and application of insect and intestinal microorganism-based plastic degradation.
