Soil bacteria from Cairo gardens found munching on plastic film
Elsayed AF, Amin DH, Gebreel HM, Mahasneh I, Youssef HI
Soil Health
The soil in your garden beds or the vacant lot down the street may already harbor microbes capable of slowly breaking down the plastic mulch or litter that ends up there.
Scientists dug through garden soil and garbage dumps in Egypt and found seven kinds of bacteria that can survive by eating plastic, specifically polyethylene, the stuff grocery bags and plastic film are made of. Under a microscope, the bacteria had literally pitted and perforated the plastic's surface, and chemical tests showed they were breaking it into new compounds. Four of these bacteria had never been caught doing this before, and one was studied in detail to map out the genetic toolkit it uses to digest plastic.
Key Findings
Seven bacterial isolates from Cairo and Giza soils grew on polyethylene film as their sole carbon source, reducing its weight and forming biofilms on the surface.
Electron microscopy showed surface perforations and infrared spectroscopy detected new carbonyl and hydroxyl chemical groups, both signs of plastic breakdown.
Four species (Sphingobacterium spiritivorum, Ectopseudomonas mendocina, Zobellella taiwanensis, Achromobacter mucicolens) had never been reported in plastic-degradation studies before; whole-genome analysis of S. spiritivorum revealed enzyme pathways for oxidation, hydrolysis, and converting breakdown products into fatty acids.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Egyptian researchers found seven soil bacteria that can eat into plastic, growing on polyethylene film as their only food source and chewing visible holes in it. One species, never before linked to plastic breakdown, has genetic tools that could help turn plastic waste into fatty acids.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Isolation of polyethylene‑modifying soil bacteria from Egypt and Genome-based functional characterization of Sphingobacterium spiritivorum ASb3.
Polyethylene (PE) has been widely utilized, resulting in its accumulation in the environment due to its recalcitrant nature. In this study, seven bacterial isolates from garden soil and garbage dum...
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