Plastic-Eating Fungi Pestalotiopsis microspora

Plastics are non-biodegradable-- or so we thought.

A group of scientists from Yale University recently discovered a species of fungi in Ecuadorian Amazon that feeds on synthetic polymer polyester polyurethane in anaerobic environment. They're like the Chuck Norris of the fungi world.

The fungi, Pestalotiopsis microspora, is able to survive on a steady diet of polyurethane alone and, which is even more surprising, can do this in both oxygenated and oxygen-free environment, maybe in places choked with methane like the bottom of a landfill. The fungi are relatively easy to grow and isolate, and so we're looking at a possible solution for our plastic problem.

Image: Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi; Appl. Environ. Microbiol; Scott A. Strobel et al; 2011; 77(17):6076; DOI:10.1128/AEM.00521-11.

Image: Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi; Appl. Environ. Microbiol; Scott A. Strobel et al; 2011; 77(17):6076; DOI:10.1128/AEM.00521-11.

Plastic is one of the most versatile materials ever invented. Plastic applications are ubiquitous--cars, food container, furniture, etc. Most plastics are non-biodegradable, and could lay unperturbed in landfills for thousands of years. Scientists had come up with biodegradable plastics in recent years, but getting rid of those non-biodegradable ones had been proved to be no easy task.

We produced 245 million tons of plastic in 2006 to comply with the global demand. If non-biodegradable plastics aren't disposed properly, our descendants would one day live alongside them.


Malcolm
info: Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi; Appl. Environ. Microbiol; Scott A. Strobel et al; 2011; 77(17):6076; DOI:10.1128/AEM.00521-11.