Responses of gut microbiomes to commercial polyester polymer biodegradation in Tenebrio molitor Larvae

Lei He; Shan-Shan Yang; Jie Ding; Zhi-Li He; Ji-Wei Pang; De-Feng Xing; Lei Zhao; He-Shan Zheng; Nan-Qi Ren; Wei-Min Wu

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131759

Responses of gut microbiomes to commercial polyester polymer biodegradation in Tenebrio molitor Larvae

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Sep 5:457:131759. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131759. Epub 2023 Jun 2.

Authors

Lei He¹, Shan-Shan Yang², Jie Ding¹, Zhi-Li He³, Ji-Wei Pang⁴, De-Feng Xing¹, Lei Zhao¹, He-Shan Zheng⁵, Nan-Qi Ren⁶, Wei-Min Wu⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China. Electronic address: shanshanyang@hit.edu.cn.
³ Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519080, China.
⁴ China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group, CECEP Talroad Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100096, China.
⁵ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qiqihar University, Qiqihar 161006, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
⁷ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, William & Cloy Codiga Resource Recovery Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: billwu@stanford.edu.

PMID: 37276692
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131759

Abstract

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a mass-produced fossil-based plastic polymer that contributes to catastrophic levels of plastic pollution. Here we demonstrated that Tenebrio molitor (mealworms) was capable of rapidly biodegrading two commercial PET resins (microplastics) with respective weight-average molecular weight (M_w) of 39.33 and 29.43 kDa and crystallinity of 22.8 ± 3.06% and 18 ± 2.25%, resulting in an average mass reduction of 71.03% and 73.28% after passage of their digestive tract, and respective decrease by 9.22% and 11.36% in M_w of residual PET polymer in egested frass. Sequencing of 16 S rRNA gene amplicons of gut microbial communities showed that dominant bacterial genera were enriched and associated with PET degradation. Also, PICRUSt prediction exhibited that oxidases (monooxygenases and dioxygenases), hydrolases (cutinase, carboxylesterase and chitinase), and PET metabolic enzymes, and chemotaxis related functions were up-regulated in the PET-fed larvae. Additionally, metabolite analyses revealed that PET uptake caused alterations of stress response and plastic degradation related pathways, and lipid metabolism pathways in the T. molitor larvae could be reprogrammed when the larvae fed on PET. This study provides new insights into gut microbial community adaptation to PET diet under nutritional stress (especially nitrogen deficiency) and its contribution to PET degradation.

Keywords: Depolymerization; Gut microbiota; Insect; Metabolome; Polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Larva / metabolism
Plastics / metabolism
Polyethylene Terephthalates / metabolism
Polymers
Polystyrenes / metabolism
Tenebrio* / metabolism
Tenebrio* / microbiology

Substances

Plastics
Polymers
Polyethylene Terephthalates
Polystyrenes