AUTHOR=Qi Xinhua , Ma Yuan , Chang Hanchen , Li Bingzhi , Ding Mingzhu , Yuan Yingjin 

TITLE=Evaluation of PET Degradation Using Artificial Microbial Consortia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.778828

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.778828

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) biodegradation is regarded as an environmentally friendly degradation method. In this study, an artificial microbial consortium composed of <italic>Rhodococcus jostii</italic>, <italic>Pseudomonas putida</italic> and two metabolically engineered <italic>Bacillus subtilis</italic> was constructed to degrade PET. First, a two-species microbial consortium was constructed with two engineered <italic>B. subtilis</italic> that could secrete PET hydrolase (PETase) and monohydroxyethyl terephthalate hydrolase (MHETase), respectively; it could degrade 13.6% (weight loss) of the PET film within 7 days. A three-species microbial consortium was further obtained by adding <italic>R. jostii</italic> to reduce the inhibition caused by terephthalic acid (TPA), a breakdown product of PET. The weight of PET film was reduced by 31.2% within 3 days, achieving about 17.6% improvement compared with the two-species microbial consortium. Finally, <italic>P. putida</italic> was introduced to reduce the inhibition caused by ethylene glycol (EG), another breakdown product of PET, obtaining a four-species microbial consortium. With the four-species consortium, the weight loss of PET film reached 23.2% under ambient temperature. This study constructed and evaluated the artificial microbial consortia in PET degradation, which demonstrated the great potential of artificial microbial consortia in the utilization of complex substrates, providing new insights for biodegradation of complex polymers.</p>