Os alunos de Yale descobriram na Amazónia um fungo capaz
de degradar o plástico, o Pestalotiopsis Microspora. É uma espécie
de fungo que pode ser encontrada em muitas regiões do mundo que consegue decompor
o plástico comum, em poliuretano e num ambiente anaeróbico (sem oxigénio).
O estudo completo será publicado no Journal of Applied
and Environmental Microbiology de Setembro de 2012
Abstract
Bioremediation
is an important approach to waste reduction that relies on biological processes
to break down a variety of pollutants. This is made possible by the vast
metabolic diversity of the microbial world. To explore this diversity for the
breakdown of plastic, we screened several dozen endophytic fungi for their
ability to degrade the synthetic polymer polyester polyurethane (PUR). Several
organisms demonstrated the ability to efficiently degrade PUR in both solid and
liquid suspensions. Particularly robust activity was observed among several
isolates in the genus Pestalotiopsis, although it was not a universal feature
of this genus. Two Pestalotiopsis microspora isolates were uniquely able to
grow on PUR as the sole carbon source under both aerobic and anaerobic
conditions. Molecular characterization of this activity suggests that a serine
hydrolase is responsible for degradation of PUR. The broad distribution of
activity observed and the unprecedented case of anaerobic growth using PUR as
the sole carbon source suggest that endophytes are a promising source of
biodiversity from which to screen for metabolic properties useful for
bioremediation
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