MicroBeast: Understanding microbial degradation for advanced sustainable materials and biodegradation techniques for tackling plastic pollution

Plastic production has been increasing globally due to its wide range of applications in a variety of different fields. Due to these high production rates, the lack of more environmentally-friendly plastic alternatives and, more importantly, due to improper waste management and lack of efficient recycling systems, plastic waste has been accumulating in the environment and causing extensive damage to numerous ecosystems and human health. Therefore, the burden plastic waste has on our environment should be addressed via (i) development of new bio-based and eco-friendly alternatives to oil-based plastics, (ii) exploring biodegradation factors (biotic and abiotic) that facilitate plastic degradation, and (iii) developing an efficient (bio)degradation and/or recycling systems. In the MicroBeast project, we will be employing all three approaches. Work package (WP) 1 will be focused on the development of novel and improved biocomposite films based on natural polymers like alginate and cellulose. The properties of the basic biocomposite films will be tailored using nanocellulose crystals, plasma treatment and chemical modifications. In parallel, a study of biodegradation by soil microbiome will be performed. There, the rate of degradation and the changes in physical and chemical properties of the films will be monitored. The samples and results collected during WP1 will then be used in WP2 and WP3. WP2 will be dedicated to an in-depth analysis of the microbiome-mediated biocomposite film degradation. The major microbial species and their functional genes will be identified and an extensive bioinformatic analysis performed in order to provide a mechanism of the biodegradation process. Finally, in WP3, we will research the enzymatic part of the biodegradation process. After determining the major enzyme classes involved in the process, we will develop an enzymatic degradation protocol using commercially available enzymes. Based on the shortcomings of these commercial enzymes, an enzyme engineering approach will be utilized in order to develop novel, omnipotent enzyme variants with broad a spectrum of activity that are capable of depolymerizing our biocomposite films to their original building blocks. Taken together, the results of the MicroBeast project will not only yield novel enzyme variants with high degradation capacity and new bio-based materials that could replace some conventional plastics, but, more importantly, gain knowledge of the potential of the natural world (bio-polymers, microbes and their enzymes) that could help solve our ever-growing plastic waste problem.