Pollution, marine plankton capable of disposing of bioplastics

From marine plankton microorganisms capable of degrading bioplastics. That is, the elements that were resorted to once the so-called 'environmental unsustainability' of oil-derived plastics was established due to their almost infinite presence in the environment. The discovery comes from research born from the collaboration betweenthe University of Pisa, the Costa Edutainment Livorno Aquarium, Asa Environmental Services Company of Livorno, the Zhejiang Ocean University (Zjou) and the joint Sino-Italian Zjou-Ispra Laboratory.

The study showed that the microbiome associated with plankton bred in Ispra laboratories is able to metabolise plastics used in the marine environment, in a relatively short time. A result that, as Ispra emphasises, opens the door to new hypotheses for the use of marine plankton in the fight against bioplastic pollution.

The study started with the structure of marine plankton, consisting of zooplankton and phytoplankton. "Together they form the basis of the marine food chain and support the life cycles of all aquatic organisms. The idea behind the study was to verify whether, among these micro-organisms associated with copepods (which predominantly represent zooplankton),' writes Ispra, 'we could isolate some capable of degrading man-made macromolecules such as those that make up plastics'.

Hence the results, also in light of the fact that over the years the unsustainability of oil-derived plastics has led to the emergence of new-generation bioplastics, the use of which has increased significantly over the last 20 years, even in the marine environment.

"For the first time, it has emerged that certain bacterial components associated with copepods bred in the Ispra laboratories in Livorno are able to initiate, after 82 days and at room temperature (20°C), a process of hydrolysis of the ester bonds of Pbsa, one of the most common polyester bioplastics, also proposed for the creation of nets for the restoration of Posidonia oceanica meadows in degraded marine environments," they emphasise at Ispra. The micro-organism isolated from copepods showed the ability to break the Pbsa polymer chain by acting particularly in the crystalline regions, which are generally less accessible to degradative activities. The results of this study represent an important starting point for further investigating the biodiversity of microorganism communities associated with marine plankton, potentially useful in the biotechnological field'.