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Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics

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Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, 18, 000-000 1

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics

Roohi1,*, Kulsoom Bano1, Mohammed Kuddus2, Mohd Rehan Zaheer3, Qamar Zia4,
Mohd. Farhan Khan3, Ghulam Md Ashraf5, Anamika Gupta9 and Gjumrakch Aliev6,7,8,*

1
Protein Research Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Integral University, Lucknow, U.P., India; 2Department
of Biochemistry, University of Hail, Hail, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Chemistry, Gagan College of Management and
Technology, Aligarh, U.P., India; 4Department of Biotechnology, Gagan College of Management and Technology, Ali-
garh, UP, India; 5King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 6GALLY In-
ternational Biomedical Research Consulting LLC., 7733 Louis Pasteur Drive, #330, San Antonio, TX, 78229, USA;
7
School of Health Science and Healthcare Administration, University of Atlanta, E. Johns Crossing, #175, Johns Creek,
GA, 30097, USA; 8Institute of Physiologically Active Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka,
142432, Russia; 9Department of Chemistry, Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh-202001, U.P., India

ARTICLE HISTORY
Received: June 20, 2016
Revised: November 10, 2016
Accepted: May 01, 2017
DOI:
10.2174/1389201018666170523165742
Abstract: Background: The renewable feedstock derived biodegradable plastics are important in vari-
ous industries such as packaging, agricultural, paper coating, garbage bags and biomedical implants.
The increasing water and waste pollution due to the available decomposition methods of plastic degra-
dation have led to the emergence of biodegradable plastics and biological degradation with microbial
(bacteria and fungi) extracellular enzymes. The microbes utilize biodegradable polymers as the sub-
strate under starvation and in unavailability of microbial nutrients. Microbial enzymatic degradation is
suitable from bioremediation point of view as no waste accumulation occurs.
Methods: It is important to understand the microbial interaction and mechanism involved in the enzy-
matic degradation of biodegradable plastics under the influence of several environmental factors such
as applied pH, thermo-stability, substrate molecular weight and/or complexity. To study the surface
erosion of polymer film is another approach for hydrolytic degradation characteristion.
Results: The degradation of biopolymer is associated with the production of low molecular weight
monomer and generation of carbon dioxide, methane and water molecule. This review reported the
degradation study of various existing biodegradable plastics along with the potent degrading microbes
(bacteria and fungi). Patents available on plastic biodegradation with biotechnological significance is
also summarized in this paper.
Conclusion: This paper assesses that new disposal technique should be adopted for the degradation of
polymers and further research is required for the economical production of biodegradable plastics
along with their enzymatic degradation.

Keywords: Biodegradable plastics, biodegradation, microbial enzymes, bioremediation, enzymatic recycling.

1. INTRODUCTION polyester–based biodegradable resins have been commercial-

Plastics are extremely important to the job market through-
out the world that makes easy transport of a wide range of food,
drinks and other goods [1]. A sizeable number of plastic vari-
ants are also known which may contain different processing
additives such as fillers and colorants that are utilized for
packaging purposes [2]. New applications based on synthetic
*Address correspondence to this author at the GALLY International Biomedi-
cal Research Consulting LLC., 7733 Louis Pasteur Drive, #330, San Antonio,
TX, 78229, USA; Tel: +1(440) 263-7461; E-mail: aliev03@gmail.com
ized, especially in the packaging industry, paper coating and
garbage bags. Plastic has moulded human society at an ad-
vanced level in the modern world and transformed the quality
of life. The evidence is all around us as plastic play a key role in
each field from clothing to transportation, from entertainment to
communication and from shelter to health care and recreation
industries [3]. Total utilization of plastics (synthetic and bio-
degradable) will reach 297.5 million tons worldwide in the
coming year where Asia accounts for being the largest
(~30%) plastic consumer [4].

1389-2010/17 $58.00+.00 © 2017 Bentham Science Publishers

2 Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5
Plastics are an intricate network of molecular monomers
bonded together to compose macromolecules of infinite use
in human society. Biodegradable polyesters are made using
modified polyethylene polymerization processes. One class
of biodegradable polyesters includes polylactic acid and
thermoplastic starch based polymers. These polyesters are
naturally degraded to water and carbon dioxide when ex-
posed to microorganisms in the environment. Another type
of biodegradable plastics comprises aliphatic co-polyesters
such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) which are also de-
graded by microorganisms [5]. Besides the innumerable ap-
plications and capability for complete degradation, use of
biodegradable plastics is still limited due to its higher cost,
lack of infrastructure for disposal, requirement of blending
with aromatic-aliphatic polyesters to obtain desired proper-
ties and necessitate several steps of testing and evaluation.
Generally, the degradation of most of the synthetic plas-
tics involves various environmental factors such as tempera-
ture, moisture, pressure and action of microorganisms [6,-8],
therefore their degradation occurs slowly in nature. A foam
plastic cup is expected to take approximately 50 years to
degrade completely. Most of these plastic packaging materi-
als enter into the municipal waste stream at the end of their
service life or being dumped into the landfills. Therefore,
plastic makes up about 20% (by volume) waste annually
worldwide and about 67 million tons of packaging waste,
which include about one third of all municipal solid waste
(MSW) produced per year in the India [5]. Due to plastic’s
resilience against degradation and its large production in
industry, the topic of plastic pollution has evolved to become
a menace to global ecology. Plastic pollution involves the
accumulation of plastic debris in the environment that nega-
tively affects wildlife and human life [9]. Plastic is a hazard-
ous material having an ability to adversely affect lands, wa-
terways and oceans. It is reported in literature that living
organism, categorically marine animals, can additionally be
affected through direct ingestion of plastic product or
through the exposure of chemicals present in the plastic that
cause interruptions in biological functions. Several reports
clearly figure out that several diverse species such as marine
birds [10, 11], sea turtles [12], sharks [13], and filter feeders
[14] have been negatively impacted by plastic debris.
The general concern of the public about the development
of sustainable community worldwide has stimulated us to re-
write a review on the degradation of biodegradable plastics
by enzymatic method. This review gathers all possible in-
formation related to superiority of enzymatic degradation
processes over other methods, production of enzymes from
microbial sources with their fermentation conditions, purifi-
cation strategies and characterization of enzymes and high-
lighting various patents filed in this field.
2. DEGRADATION OF PLASTICS
Due to having versatile scenery a huge amount of polym-
eric material is used in the world as plastic and fortunately
these materials do not offer serious health problem of living
being though the main problem associated with the exceeding
large use of plastic and disposal of plastic waste. Swift [15]
reported that different processes, mainly physico-chemical
Roohi et al.
and biodegradation are adopted to combat this problem,
some of which are being discussed here.
2.1. Degradation of Plastics by Physical Process
The synthetic plastic waste can be degraded with several
available treatments such as soil burial, combustion of or-
ganic substances and as a registrant for recycling of waste [5,
16]. During this treatment, plastic wastes are first extracted
on either acidic or alkaline leachates according to molecular-
weight of the compounds [17]. A well-managed landfill re-
sult in limited generation of environmentally hazardous ma-
terial beyond the impacts of collection and transport, but
space for landfill is becoming scarce in some countries. The
major drawback of landfills is the accumulation of persistent
organic pollutant such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, polynu-
clear aromatic and petroleum hydrocarbons, organochlorine,
hexachlorinated hexane (HCH), polybrominated diphen-
ylethers (PBDEs) and alkylphenols. Some of these pollutants
are plasticizers which are added to plastics during synthesis,
while others are the surrounding compounds from the envi-
ronment [18].
Open burning of pollutants itself causes various health
issues. The burning of polychlorinated plastics produces
non-degradable organic pollutants known as polychlorinated
dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), while burning of polyethylene
and polystyrene produces a toxic product, leading to immune
and enzyme disorder and even chloracne [19, 20]. The re-
duce, reuse and recycle strategy of synthetic plastics is fitted
economically well with several limitations [18]. Recycling
involves the manufacturing of new products from the recov-
ered waste material with several limitations.
The recycled plastics can be treated as hazardous to the
environment with the production of persistent organic mate-
rial. A high amount of energy is required to degrade plastics
during recycling with the generation of carbon fumes which
are threat to plants and animals and serve as a cause of
global warming. The recycling of plastics is still better than
other treatment, but an even better approach is the use of
biodegradable materials. It is feasible to recycle some
bioplastic polymer like as polylactic acid (PLA) for a few
times without significant reduction in properties [5].
2.2. Degradation of Plastics by Chemical Process
In chemical method, degradation takes place mostly through
breakdown of the main chains or side-chains of polymer
molecules, induced by photo-oxidation hydrolysis or degra-
dation with specific and harsh chemicals. Generally, photo-
degradation of petroleum based plastics begins with the in-
corporation of oxygen molecules in the synthetic organic
compounds, as activated by ultraviolet light which leads to
thermo-oxidative degradation [2]. This causes brittleness and
fragmentation of plastics into smaller, low molecular weight
monomers which are then metabolized by living organisms
[21]. The microbes either convert the fragmented carbon
chains into CO2 or assimilate it into macromolecules.
The chemical degradation may be defined as the breaking
of chemical bonds in the plastic backbone by hydrolysis to
form smaller molecules. Hydrolysis results from the attack of
water molecules to water-labile bonds by either absorption or
Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics
direct access to polymer surface, which can be also catalyzed
with an acid, alkali or enzyme.
2.2.1. Alkali-catalyzed Hydrolysis of Polyesters
The alkali-catalyzed hydrolysis of polyesters involves the
reaction of hydroxide ion with the carbonyl carbon of the
ester group generating a tetrahedral intermediate, resulting in
the formation of an alcohol and carboxylic acid [22].
2.2.2. Acid-catalyzed Hydrolysis of Polyester
Under acidic conditions, the degradation of polyesters
begins with delocalization of proton from hydroxonium ion
(H3O+) to one of the lone pairs on the carbonyl oxygen of the
ester group, followed by hydrolysis of the carbonyl carbon,
resulting in the generation of tetrahedral intermediate. The
tetrahedral intermediate can then dissociate into a carboxylic
acid and an alcohol.
The chemical degradation leads to the release of mono-
mers and microbial polyester fragments which behaves as
organic pollutant, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocar-
bons and petroleum hydrocarbons into the environment.
These plastic derived contaminants are transferred to the
organisms by different stages most commonly ingestion,
inhalation and dermal sorption. These chemically degraded
monomers may be classified as mutagenic and/or carcino-
genic [23]. As chemical degradation causes release of toxic
monomers, biological degradation is, thus, a better and suit-
able alternate to chemical hydrolysis [24].
2.3. Degradation of Plastics by Biological Process
Both chemical and physical methods which have been
described above are associated with certain drawbacks;, bio-
logical degradation by microbial enzymes is therefore a fas-
cinating and environmental friendly option to discard plastics
[5]. This degradation process is very much different from
the normal biological degradation [25] where degradable
stages end with the disintegration of polymer due to the ac-
tion of high temperature, atmospheric moisture and sunlight
that condens the released product resulting in the production
of more stubborn persistent residues [26]. The biological
degradation of plastics by means of enzymes thus refers to
an attack by desired microflora on water immiscible plastic
polymers. Plastics are degraded by enzymatic activity of
those microbial flora that lead to a chain fragmentation of
polymer into monomers [21, 27-29].
Biodegradation of polymer involves following steps [30];
1) Adherence of the microorganisms to plastic surface.
Adherence leads to the formation of biofilms.
2) Growth of microorganisms by utilizing the degraded
polymer as an energy and food source (Assimilation).
3) Degradation of polymer (Fragmentation by hydrolysis).
4) Final disintegration of polymer (Mineralization).
Depending upon the polymer characteristics, whether it is
hydrophilic or hydrophobic, microorganism can attach to the
surface of the polymer. Microbes can degrade plastic by
aerobic or anaerobic oxidation. Under aerobic oxidation,
microorganisms biodegrade the plastic polymer to yield car-
Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5 3
bon dioxide and water molecule as the end products. Micro-
organisms utilize carbon as a substrate to derive chemical
energy. Aerobic biological degradation is an environmental
approach consisting of continuous degradation of synthetic
organic matter by a mixed microbial population in a moist
and aerobic environment.
Organic compounds + O2 → CO2 + H2O + Minerals
Anaerobic biological degradation is the fragmentation of
organic compounds without oxygen to generate carbon diox-
ide, water, methane, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and com-
post product. The anaerobic degradation is a consequence of
series of metabolic interaction among various group of mi-
croorganism [31].
Organic matter + H2O → Resistant organic matter + CO2 +
+ Nutrients H2O + CH4+ H2S + NH4 + Heat
Several polymers degrading microbial species which
perform aerobic degradation have been isolated and charac-
terized [2-36]. The evaluation of the anaerobic breakdown of
plastics, is, however, still in a developing stage and only few
reliable investigations are available.
3. MICROORGANISMS AND THEIR ENZYMES RE-
SPONSIBLE FOR BIODEGRADATION OF PLASTICS
Several microorganisms like fungi and bacteria are re-
sponsible for the degradation of synthetic and natural plastics
[37-48]. Habitat of polymer/plastic degrading microorgan-
isms varies greatly amongst soil, compost, activated sludge
and sea water. As the microorganisms are present ubiqui-
tously, they have unique characteristics of forming an asso-
ciation with material surfaces [49-53]. The process of adher-
ence of complex microbial community on plastic surfaces is
known as “micro-fouling” or formation of biofilms, and in-
clude the activity of microorganisms and their extracellular
polysaccharides. Biofilms are widespread in aquatic as well
as terrestrial environments and show high diversity in terms
of space and time [26, 48, 54-56]. Microorganisms are re-
sponsible for degradation as they utilize hydrocarbons in the
polymer backbone as the primary carbon source [45]. Mo-
lecular weight and crystallinity are the two main parameters
which decide the ability of microorganisms to degrade the
plastic polymer [53]. Plastic polymers having high molecular
weight are not suitable for bacterial attack as it necessitates
the phagocytosis of the substrate through plasma membrane
and then it is degraded by intracellular enzymes [55].
Within living cell, esterase enzymes degrade the polyes-
ters which are linked with ester bond. Premraj et al. [27]
reported that in Pseudomonas sp. even lipase enzymes are
able to degrade the ester bond but only in low molecular
weight polyester. Several extracellular bacterial PHB and
PHBV depolymerase have been reported to metabolize PHB
and other PHA molecules. The resulting enzymatically
cleaved water soluble products are then absorbed by the mi-
crobial cells where they are further metabolized. The cleaved
products can be metabolized aerobically as well as an-
aerobically [31]. Carbon dioxide and water are the end prod-
ucts during aerobic biodegradation while in anaerobic bio-
degradation, carbon dioxide, water and methane is produced
4 Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5
[55]. The biodegradation of plastics is generally a surface
erosion process [57].
Several biodegradable plastics/polyesters like poly(L-
lactide) (PLA), poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA), poly(ethy-
lenesuccinate) (PES), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), aliphatic
polyesters, polysaccharides or their mixtures have been syn-
thesized successfully in past few years due to their analogous
polymeric properties as of conventional plastics [58,59].
Even PCL/PES can be synthesized from petrochemicals and
PLA/PHA from renewable resources. Out of all the biode-
gradable plastics, only PHA is completely degraded by mi-
croorganisms when accumulated intracellularly during un-
even growth conditions [22]. Polymers with hydrolysable
backbones e.g. polyesters, polycaprolactones, polyamides,
polyurethanes, polyanhydrides are also susceptible to bio-
degradation. The microbial flora which are responsible for
the degradation of plastic polymer were identified as bacteria
(Streptococcus, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus
and Moraxella), fungi (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus glau-
cus), and yeast (Actinomycetes sp. and Saccharomonos
poragenus) [15]. Some thermophillic Actinomycetes have
been shown to produce PHB- and PHBV-depolymerase en-
zymes that hydrolyze polyesters at high temperature [56, 60].
Degradation of PCL may take place in water, soil and com-
post by various microorganisms [38, 60-67].
Microorganisms producing extracellular PHB depolym-
erase are widely distributed and have been isolated from a
variety of environments [34]. The capability to degrade ex-
tracellular PHB in the environment depends on the relin-
quishment of extracellular PHB depolymerase that is either
for short-chain-length (SCL) PHB (3-5 C atoms) or medium-
chain-length (MCL) PHB (6-14 C atoms). As per the degra-
dation capability of PHB depolymerase, the end products
may be either only monomers or mixture of both monomers
and dimers, or combination of oligomers. Till now, most of
the reported PHB depolymerase belongs to Gram-negative
bacteria, mainly Pseudomonas species [22, 40, 68]. A re-
searcher have isolated poly-(3-hydroxyoctanoate) depolym-
erase from Pseudomonas fluorescens GK13 (PhaZ) [69].
Another study [42] reported that the Pseudomonas citronel-
loloisis bacterium from P. aeroginosa group was involved in
polyethylene degradation.
Fig. (1). General mechanism of plastic biodegradation.
Roohi et al.
Our literature survey revealed that the majority of re-
search work that has been done to identify the microorgan-
ism responsible for the degradation of a large number of dif-
ferent types of plastics available in the market is scattered.
Therefore, the list of majority of the microorganisms respon-
sible for the degradation of different types of plastics have
been summarized in Table 1.
4. MECHANISM OF PLASTIC BIODEGRADATION
BY ENZYMATIC PROCESS
The first step of biodegradation mechanism of biode-
gradable polymers involves oxidation or hydrolysis by re-
spective enzymes to create functional groups that improve its
hydrophobicity. Thereby, high molecular weight plastic
polymers are degraded into low molecular weight com-
pounds having delicate mechanical properties, thus, making
it more accessible for further microbial assimilation [70].
Enzymes play a major role in microbial degradation of plas-
tics where microbial exoenzymes degrade complex polymers
into small molecules of short chain length as monomers,
dimers and oligomers, which are capable of passing through
the semi-permeable bacterial/fungal membranes where they
can be utilized as carbon and energy sources and further
mineralized [71]. If the size of these cleaved polymers is too
large, then they are first depolymerized to pass through the
cellular membrane, where they can be absorbed and biode-
graded by intracellular enzymes within microbial cell (Fig. 1).
Initial step of biodegradation by enzymes depends on
various physical and biological forces [15]. Physical forces,
such as freeze/thaw, cooling/heating, or wetting/drying pro-
duces mechanical damage such as the cracking/scratching of
polymeric materials [72]. The growth of many fungi over
scratched surface also causes temporary swelling since fungi
penetrate into the polymer solids [73]. Physico-chemical
parameters of microorganisms, as well as their magnification
conditions (such as, pH, temperature, oxygen requirement,
nutrients, particle size, moisture content) and enzyme charac-
teristics (intracellular and extracellular enzyme, exo- or
endo-cleavage types) implicatively decides the type and
mode of polymer degradation [62].
All biodegradable polymers have hydrolytic bonds, such as
esters, amides, glycosides, anhydrides, carbonates, urethanes
Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5 5

Table 1. List of microorganisms reported to degrade different types of plastics.

Types of Plastic Enzyme Specificity Microorganism References

Synthetic Plastic
Brevibacillus borstelensis [39]
Rhodococcus rubber [79, 80]
Bacillus circulans
Bacillus brevies [81]
Bacillus sphaericus
Thermobifida alba Est119 [82]
Penicillium simplicissimum YK [83]
Enterobacter asburiae YT1
[84]
Polyethylene Esterases Bacillus sp. YP1.
Brevibacillus parabrevis
Acinetobacter baumannii PL2 [42]
Pseudomonas aeroginosa
Pseudomonas citronellolis EMBSO27 [45]
Aspergillus nidulans [41]
Enterococcus sp. NAP11 [75]
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BSM-1
[47]
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BSM-2
Aureobasidium pullulans [85]
Pseudomonas putida AJ   [86]  
Ochrobactrum TD
Polyvinyl-chloride (PVC) Esterases
Pseudomonas fluorescens B-22
[87]  
Aspergillus niger
Van Tieghem F-1119
Comamonas acidovorans TB-35
[88]
Curvularia senegalensis
Aureobasidium pullulans
[89]
Fusarium solani
Polyurethane Lipases
Cladosporium sp.
[74]
Pseudomonas chlororaphis
Pestalotiopsis microspora [90]
Pseudomonas stutzeri [91]
Rhodococcus pyridinovorans, Rhodococcus opacus 1CP [92]
Styrene oxide
Polystyrene Pseudomonas sp. E-93486 [93]
isomerase (SOI)
Pseudomonas putida NBUS12   [94]
Biodegradable Plastics  
Pseudomonas lemoignei [33]

Pseudomonas sp. AKS2 [95]

Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate PHB depolymerase
Penicillium oxalicum strain DSYD05-1 [96]

Streptomyces exfoliates K10 [36]

(Table 1) Contd….
6 Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5 Roohi et al.

Types of Plastic Enzyme Specificity Microorganism References

Streptomyces ascomycinicus [43]

Bacillus megaterium [97]
Rhodospirillum rubrum [98]
Streptomyces,
Thermoactinomyces [40]
Saccharomonospora genus
Clostridium botulinu
Clostridium acetobutylicum [64]
Fusarium solani
Pseudozyma antarctica JCM [99]
Actinomadura sp. [100]
Microbispora sp. [62]
Pseudozyma japonica [46]
Fusarium moniliforme
[101]
Penicillium roquefort
Polylactic acid PLA depolymerase Amycolatopsis sp. [102]
Bacillus brevis [103]
Rhizopus delemer [61, 104]
Leptothrix sp. strain TB-71 [100]
Poly (butylenes succinate-co-adipate)
PBSA depolymerase Pseudozyma Antarctica JCM [44]
(PBSA)
Paenibacillus amylolyticus [105]

[44]. Hydrolysis reactions are catalyzed by hydrolases en-
zymes which include esterase, glycosidase, protease, lipase,
phosphatases and other enzymes of this class. Majority of the
biodegradable plastics polymers are polyesters and therefore
their degradation may be catalyzed by esterolytic enzymes
such as esterase, lipases, or proteases with some differences
in substrate preference.
5. PLASTIC DEGRADING MICROORGANISMS
5.1. Sources of Plastic Degrading Microorganisms
Plastic degrading microorganisms are ubiquitous in envi-
ronment such as soil, marine water, aerobic and anaerobic
sludge, industrial wastes, compost and also in the human
body [44, 4, 74, 75].
Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) have been reported for the
occurrence of microbial flora amongst biodegradable plastics
as it belongs to the largest class. PHB is an aliphatic polyes-
ter having R configuration and have same physical properties
as polypropylene (PP) and are used as an alternative of PP.
PHB degrading bacteria are generally found in terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems [44]. On account of its biodegradability
and biocompatibility, it has been a potential material for
biomedical applications and environmentally benign indus-
trial applications. PHB depolymerase, which is secreted
through bacteria and fungi, attacks on the ester bonds of
PHB and hydrolyses it into oligomers and/or monomer of 3-
hydroxybutyrate.
5.2. Fermentation Conditions for the Production of Plas-
tic Degrading Enzyme by Microbes
5.2.1. Physicochemical Factors
Plastics degrading enzyme are mostly extracellular and
rate of their biodegradation is affected by various nutritional
and physicochemical factors viz. temperature, pH, carbon/
nitrogen sources, inducers, presence of contaminants, pres-
ence of other electron acceptors besides oxygen, and avail-
ability of nutrients. Soil profile where microorganisms is
growing also play very crucial role for the growth and suste-
nance of microbes. Some of important soil factors include
soil temperature, soil pH, soil moisture content, porosity, O 2
availability, H+ concentration, redox potential and microbial
population themselves [22].
5.2.2. Oxygen Requirement for Growth
Biodegradation of plastics is basically an electron trans-
fer process where electrons are detached from organic poly-
mer to capture the energy that is accessible through the oxi-
dation process. Electron transfer is carried by microbial en-
zymes. For majority of the microbial population isolated
from soil, oxygen behaves as terminal electron acceptor.
Facultative anaerobes (can use oxygen when it is present or
can switch to alternative electron acceptors, such as nitrate
and sulphate, in the absence of oxygen) and obligate anaer-
obes become dominant when oxygen is not available but
normally aerobic biodegradation is more efficient. In case of
Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5 7

aerobic biodegradation, rate of degradation quickly slows 5.2.4. Growth Medium

down due to limited supply of oxygen or other nutrients and
not due to the inherent microbial capacity to degrade the
polymer. But in anaerobic conditions, the rate of degradation
is usually limited by the inherent reaction rate of the active
microorganisms. The process runs very slow and complete
oxidation may need months or years.
5.2.3. Substrate Specificity
An enzymes’ characteristic say that they are highly spe-
cific for their substrate but some alterations have been re-
ported for plastics. Some polyester could be depolymerized
by lipases and some by esterases. These variations can be
attributed to factors like molar mass of the polymer, hydro-
phobicity of the surface or chemical composition of the
polymer chain is responsible for controlling the biodegrad-
ability of polymer [62].
To meet the demand of industries, low-cost medium is
required for the production of plastics degrading enzymes.
Solid state fermentation (SSF) is better option for the pro-
duction of enzymes as compared to submerged fermentation.
SSF is a process where microorganisms grow on moist solid
substrates with sufficient percentage of moisture. The solid
substrate either provides only support or both support as well
as nutrition to growing microbes. SSF has been used for long
to convert synthetic and biological polymeric substrates such
as PHA, PHB, PLA, polyesters into fermented products
which are less polluting and less harmful [76]. SSF consti-
tutes an interesting alternative, since the metabolites so pro-
duced are concentrated and purification procedures are less
costly. A list of various plastics degrading enzyme producing
bacteria and their production parameters are presented in
Table 2.

Table 2. Overview of production parameters and biochemical characteristics for purified depolymerase enzymes.

Total
Mol. wt.
Temp. Protein Metal Ions Inhibition/ Purifica-
S. No. Depolymerase Enzyme Microbial Strain pH (SDS Reference
(°C) Purified Enzyme Inhibitors tion Fold
PAGE)
(mg)

High K+ and Mg2+

1 PHB depolymerase Thermus Thermophilus 8.0 70 0.32 28.2 42 [106]
concentrations

2 PHB depolymerase Penicillium sp. 5.0 50 230.0 EDTA 37.9 44.8 [107]
Streptomyces bangla-
3 PHB depolymerase NA 45 NA NA NA 40 [108]
deshensis 77T-4
PHA I depolymerase and Pseudomonas
4 8.0 50 84.9 Na+, K +, Zn2+, Mg2+Fe2+ NA 59.4, 33.8 [76]
PHA II depolymerase mendocina
Aspergillus fumigatus
5 PHB depolymerase 8.5 50 23.3 Dithioerythritol (DTT) 33.56 40 [109]
(Pdf1)
Phenyl methyl-
Arthrobacter sp. strain
6 PHB depolymerase 8.5 50 222 sulphonyl-fluoride NA 47 [110]
W6.
(PMSF), Hg2+, Pb2+, Ag+
CaCl2, MgCl2 Tween
20, Tween 80, Triton
7 PHB depolymerase Rhodospirillum rubrum 9.0 50 NA NA NA [111]
X-100, MgCl2, CaCl2,
NaCl, KCl, EDTA
Pseudomonas
8 PHB depolymerase 8.5 50 4.8 PMSF, H2O 2 and SDS 4.2 NA [112]
mendocina DSWY0601
Agrobacterium sp.
9 PHB depolymerase 7.0 50 PMSF, EDTA NM NM [113]
DSGZ
Bacillus sp. NRRL
10 PHB depolymerase 8 37 NM NM NM NM [114]
B14911
Emericellopsis minima Tween 80, Triton
11 PHB depolymerase 9.0 55 0.33 20.0 48.0 [77]
W2 X-100, DTT, PMSF
Alcaligenes faecalis
12 PHB depolymerase 9.0 55 2.1 PMSF 15 95.5 [115]
AE122
13 PHB depolymerase Penicillium pinophilum NM 30 0.492 NM 3.66 35 [116]
14 PHA depolymerase Acidovorax sp. DP5 9 40 NM NM NM NM [117]
Pseudomonas sp. Di-isopropyl Fluoro-
15 PHB depolymerase 7-8.5 40 5.4 NM 70 [118]
Strain A1 phosphate

(Table 2) Contd….
8 Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5 Roohi et al.

Total
Mol. wt.
Temp. Protein Metal Ions Inhibition/ Purifica-
S. No. Depolymerase Enzyme Microbial Strain pH (SDS Reference
(°C) Purified Enzyme Inhibitors tion Fold
PAGE)
(mg)

PLA, Poly (L-Lactic

16 Fusarium moniliforme 8.5 28 NM NM NM NM [101]
Acid) depolymerase
Di-isopropyl Fluoro-
Amycolatopsis sp.
17 PLA depolymerase 7.0 37 12.1 Phosphate, PMSF, 23 NM [120]
Strain K104-1
EDTA, EGTA
18 PLA depolymerase Bacillus smithii 7.0 60 NM NM NM NM [121]
19 PLA depolymerase Bacillus licheniformis 6-7 50-60 1.6 U/mg Ethyl acetate 1.8 NM [81]
+ 2+ 2+ 2+
Pseudomonas sp. strain K , Zn , Mg , Cu ,
20 PLA depolymerase 8.5 50 NM NM NM [112]
DS04-T Fe2+ and EDTA
Poly (ε-caprolactone)
21 Alcaligenes faecalis 7.0 40 52.6 NM 7.3 NM [122]
depolymerase
Poly (ε-caprolactone)
22 Fusarium solani 7.8. 30 NM NM NM NM [123]
depolymerase
Streptomyces thermo-
Poly (ε-caprolactone)
23 violaceus sub sp. ther- 7 45-50 NM NM NM 25-55 [124]
depolymerase
moviolaceus 76T-2
Poly (ε-caprolactone) Penicillium oxalicum
24 6.8 28 NM NM NM NM [96]
depolymerase strain DSYD05-1
Poly (ε-caprolactone) Brevundimonas sp.
25 5-9 20-45 9.98 PMSF 40.59 63.49 [78]
depolymerase strain MRL-AN1
Poly (ε-caprolactone) Amycolatopsis sp. strain 0.023
26 7 30 NM NM NM [125]
depolymerase SCMMK2-4 U/mL
Comamonas acidovo- Di-isopropyl Fluoro
27 PHB depolymerase 6-10 <37 0.6 9.1 45 [126]
rans YM1609 Phosphate
Tween 20, Tween 80
Aspergillus fumigatus
28 PHB depolymerase 9 45 1.02 Triton X-100 Ca+2 , 20.62 63.7 [109]
202
Mg+2 , Fe+2, Hg +2
Ca+2 , Mg +2 , Fe+2 , Hg +2
29 PHB depolymerase Penicillium citrinum S2 6.0 50 0.09 16.18 240 [127]
PMSF
*NM= Not mentioned.

5.2.5. Intrinsic Factors of the enzymes by ammonium sulphate precipitation, ultra

The polymer biodegradation is influenced by variety of
intrinsic factors of polymer itself. Higher molecular weight,
high melting temperature and large extent of crystallinity
affects the rate by which polymer is likely to be biodegraded
by microbial enzymes [62].
6. PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF
PLASTICS DEGRADING ENZYMES
Earlier the majority of purification schemes for enzymes
were reported to be completed in a multistep process. How-
ever, in recent years, new techniques have been developed
that are rapid, competent, economic and may yield high re-
covery in just few steps. Based on the type of plastics de-
grading enzyme produced by the microbes, one has to design
the strategy for purification and downstream processing. The
purification process also depends on the market need, proc-
essing cost, final quality, and available technology [77]. The
purification efficiency is determined by total yield and puri-
fication factor. Table 2 also summarizes the yield, purifica-
tion fold including molecular weight of available plastics
degrading enzymes. Purification steps involve concentration
filtration by dialysis and high level column chromatography
[78]. The characterization of plastics degrading enzymes can
be studied in terms of optimum temperature and pH, role of
metal ions/chelating agents/inhibitors, type of substrate, con-
centration of substrate, enzyme concentration, solvents and
stabilizing agents.
7. PATENTS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
This review also summarizes the available recent and
important patents about the properties, methods and produc-
tion of plastic degrading microorganisms/enzymes and their
possible industrial and biotechnological use (Table 3).
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
The utility of plastic in human lives is growing day by
day, but its degradation is becoming a great challenge for the
environment. Safe disposal of plastic waste via different
tasks have been adopted but unfortunately they were found
to be associated with environmental hazards instead of
reducing the impact of plastic waste. Biodegradable plastics
emerge out as a promising new generation polymers in the
Microbial Enzymatic Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 5 9

Table 3. Patents done on plastic biodegradation with biotechnological significance.

Biodegradable/Synthetic Polymer Patent Number Patent Description Reference

Polyethylene, Polyester US 20150247018 Biodegradation of petroleum based plastic by microbial flora. [84]
Poly-β-Hydroxybutyrate (PHB), Poly-
US 9174000 Drug delivery device made from biodegradable plastic components. [127]
vinyl Alcohol, Polylactic Acid (PLA)
Poly Butylenes Succinate co- Adipate Disposable medical supplies made from hydrolytically biodegradable
US 8143368 [128]
(PBSA) plastic
Biodegradable plastic product made from skin of Rambutan, Banana
Polyvinyl Alcohol WO 2012078021 [129]
and Jackfruit.
Polyester-based plastic-degrading enzyme and a polynucleotide encod-
Polyester US 7960154 [130]
ing the enzyme, as well as a method for degrading plastics
Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EPV) US 8080596 Biodegradable plastic material and method for producing the same [131]
Polycaprolactone US 6096809 Synthesis of biologically degradable polymer mixture. [132]
Biodegradable plastic product made from coconut husk fiber powder
Aliphatic Polyester US 6083621 [133]
mixture.
Streptomyces violaceusniger FERM BP-6110 and Streptomyces
Polylactic acid (PLA) US 6066492 A cyaneus FERM BP-6111 are used for degradation of polylactic acid [134]
resin
Polyester-based plastic-degrading enzyme and a polynucleotide encod-
Polyester EP 1849859 A4 [135]
ing the enzyme.
Polylactic Acid (PLA) US 7279545 Economical method for synthesis of PLA. [136]
Method for collecting monomers using the enzyme or a microorganism
Polyester WO 2006078011 A1 [135]
expressing the enzyme
Biodegradable plastic made from a combination of one synthetic plastic
Biodegradable plastic US 5346929 A [137]
polymer, one natural polymer and a natural polymer attacking enzyme

global market. Their use in daily life is predicted to increase plementation and development of promising strategies for
because of the complete and efficient degradation by microbial polymer waste management.
enzymes over synthetic polymers. Non-biodegradable nature of
synthetic polymers limits their exploitation due to its hydro-
phobic nature, high molecular weight and the absence of CONSENT FOR PUBLICATION
functional groups that can interact with microorganisms. Not applicable.
However, after oxidation and degradation, low molecular
weight monomers are generated that can be assimilated by
microorganisms. The studies on the degradation of biode- CONFLICT OF INTEREST
gradable plastics have increased our knowledge about de- The authors confirm that this article content has no con-
grading microorganisms, their enzymes, genes and polymer flict of interest.
structure. This knowledge is useful for the molecular evolu-
tion and molecular manufacturing of biodegradable polymers
and even for the hybridization of enzymes and microbes in- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
volved in degradation. As it is evident that biodegradable Authors are grateful to Integral University for providing
plastics plays its role in each and every sector of life as in necessary infrastructure and manuscript communication
agriculture, in food packaging, in cosmetics and in biomedi- number IU/R&D/2017-MCN00096.
cal devices, therefore, researchers are continuously in search
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