Genetic diversity and organic waste degrading capacity of Hermetia illucens from the evergreen forest of the Equatorial Choco lowland

María Fernanda Pazmiño; Ana G Del Hierro; Francisco Javier Flores

doi:10.7717/peerj.14798

Genetic diversity and organic waste degrading capacity of Hermetia illucens from the evergreen forest of the Equatorial Choco lowland

PeerJ. 2023 Feb 3:11:e14798. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14798. eCollection 2023.

Authors

María Fernanda Pazmiño^{1

2}, Ana G Del Hierro², Francisco Javier Flores^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida y de la Agricultura, Facultad de Ingeniería en Biotecnología, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas-ESPE, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador.
² Laboratorio de Investigación Aplicada-Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad-INABIO, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador.
³ Centro de Investigación de Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingeniería e Industrias, Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador.

Abstract

Globally, microplastics (MP) represent a growing burden for ecosystems due to their increasing presence at different trophic levels. In Ecuador, the lack of waste segregation has increased the quantity of waste, primarily organics and plastics, overloading landfills and water sources. Over time, plastics reduce in size and silently enter the food chain of animals, such as insects. The black soldier fly (BSF) larvae, Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758), is a species with devouring behavior used for waste management because of its beneficial qualities such as fly pest control, biomass production, and rapid organic waste degradation. Studies have uncovered the insect's ability to tolerate MP, and consider the possibility that they may be able to degrade polymers. For the first time in Ecuador, the present study characterized H. illucens using the sequences of different molecular markers. Finally, H. illucens' degrading capacity was evaluated in the presence of MP and decaying food residues, resembling landfill conditions.

Keywords: Bioconversion; Hermetia; Microplastics; Molecular barcoding; Waste management.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Diptera* / genetics
Ecosystem*
Forests
Genetic Variation
Larva / genetics
Plastics / metabolism

Substances

Plastics

Grants and funding

The publication of this article was financed through public research funds of the Ecuadorian Government, INEDITA Research Call. Agreement signed on December 10, 2018, between the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO) and the Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENESCYT) for the execution of the project “Bioconversion of organic waste and plastic from invertebrates of Ecuador”, code number 00110378. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.