Plastic is found everywhere, from college student’s expensive china (styrofoam plates and plastic utensils) to the cups of ramen noodles we eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s safe to say that as a whole, we use a lot of plastic. Nowadays, a major concern is how to get rid of all the plastic we use. Bacteria in soil are picky eaters and won’t biodegrade plastic. In a recent study done by Yang et al., it was found that gut bacteria in mealworms were important in the degradation of polystyrene plastics (2015). In order to determine if the presence of gut bacteria would affect the mealworm’s ability to degrade polystyrene, an experiment was conducted on groups of mealworms that were fed with the antibiotic gentamicin and groups that were not. The results showed that the mealworms with the antibiotic and lack of gut microbes were impaired in their ability to digest styrofoam. Further experiments were done to isolate these bacteria, and it was found that the most abundant was Exiguobacterium sp. strain YT2, pictured in the figure below (Yang et al, 2015). Further research could lead to the future use of bacteria as tiny trash disposers.
(Yang et al, 2015) Picture of a previously unsuspecting foam cup victim being devoured by hungry mealworms fueled by Exiguobactlerium sp. YT2.
Yang Y, Yang J, Wu WM, Zhao J, Song Y, Gao L, Yang R, and Jiang L. (2015) Biodegradation and mineralization of polystyrene by plastic-eating mealworms: Part 2. Role of Gut Microorganisms. Environ. Sci. Techno. 49: 12087-12093.
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