Plastics are globally one of the most indispensable synthetic materials. However, the recycling remains limited. Since physical and chemical degradation is very energy consuming and toxic to the environment, physicochemical degradation of accumulated plastic on land or in the oceans leads to microplastics, which can enter various food chains. Microbial biodegradation is a promising solution to reduce plastic waste with minimal negative environmental impact. It involves the use of microorganisms to use plastic as their sole carbon source. Fungi, for example are known as such natural decomposers. They degrade natural and synthetic polymers enzymatically using oxidoreductases and hydrolases. Fifty-nine strains of fungi isolated from washing machines and dishwashers were used in this experiment. Fungi in household appliances are exposed to synthetic and organic materials, chemicals, high temperature, humidity, and pH. Exposure to several extreme conditions leads to the enrichment of polyextremotolerant fungi. The fact that fungi most frequently colonize plastic parts of household appliances led us to investigate whether they are able to utilize plastic as a sole carbon source. We screened the selected fungi for their ability to colonize five selected plastics: low density polyethylene, polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene and polyurethane. Fungal strains were incubated on a medium containing plastics for three months. Their growth and morphology were observed using light and electron microscopy. Fungi from the genera Cladosporium and Exophiala, previously proven to be able to degrade plastics, grew best. Of 59 strains tested, 50 strains grew on more than one type of plastic. Twenty strains grew on all five types of plastics. We identified 43 new species that grew on at least one type of plastic and had not previously been shown to degrade plastics. According to previous studies on fungal degradation of plastic, only a few strains are capable of degrading polyamide and polypropylene. We observed 44 strains colonizing polyamide and 43 strains colonizing polypropylene.
|