Science of The Total Environment: Review

Science of the Total Environment 802 (2022) 149823
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Science of the Total Environment
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv
Review
Challenges and opportunities in bioremediation of micro-nano plastics:

A review
Yuwen Zhou a, Manish Kumar b, Surendra Sarsaiya c, Ranjna Sirohi d, Sanjeev Kumar Awasthi a,
Raveendran Sindhu e, Parameswaran Binod e, Ashok Pandey f, Nanthi S. Bolan g,h,i, Zengqiang Zhang a,
Lal Singh b, Sunil Kumar b, Mukesh Kumar Awasthi a,⁎
a
College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, PR China
b
CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur 440020, Maharashtra, India
c
Key Laboratory of Basic Pharmacology and Joint International Research Laboratory of Ethnomedicine of Ministry of Education, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou, China
d
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
e
Microbial Processes and Technology Division, CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695019, India
f
Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow 226 001, India
g
School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6001, Australia
h
The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6001, Australia
i
School of Engineering, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T
• Microbial degradation of micro-nano

plastics (MNPs) is considered as clean
technologies.
• Biotic and abiotic factors of the environ-
ment control the biodegradation of
MNPs.
• Microbial enzymatic machinery plays
an important role in biodegradation of
MNPs.
• Implication of advanced molecular for
biodegradation of MNPs is desirable.
• Challenges and opportunities in biore-
mediation of MNPs are reviewed.
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Rising level of micro-nano plastics (MNPs) in the natural ecosystem adversely impact the health of the environ-
Received 27 June 2021 ment and living organisms globally. MNPs enter in to the agro-ecosystem, flora and fauna, and human body via
Received in revised form 14 August 2021 trophic transfer, ingestion and inhalation, resulting impediment in blood vessel, infertility, and abnormal behav-
Accepted 18 August 2021
iors. Therefore, it becomes indispensable to apply a novel approach to remediate MNPs from natural environ-
Available online 21 August 2021
ment. Amongst the several prevailing technologies of MNPs remediation, microbial remediation is considered
Editor: Thomas Kevin V as greener technology. Microbial degradation of plastics is typically influenced by several biotic as well as abiotic
factors, such as enzymatic mechanisms, substrates and co-substrates concentration, temperature, pH, oxidative
stress, etc. Therefore, it is pivotal to recognize the key pathways adopted by microbes to utilize plastic fragments
Keywords: as a sole carbon source for the growth and development. In this context, this review critically discussed the role of
Micro-nano plastics (MNPs) various microbes and their enzymatic mechanisms involved in biodegradation of MNPs in wastewater (WW)
Microplastics (MPs) stream, municipal sludge, municipal solid waste (MSW), and composting starting with biological and toxicolog-
Bioremediation ical impacts of MNPs. Moreover, this review comprehensively discussed the deployment of various MNPs
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (M.K. Awasthi).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149823
0048-9697/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Y. Zhou, M. Kumar, S. Sarsaiya et al. Science of the Total Environment 802 (2022) 149823
MNPs degradation remediation technologies, such as enzymatic, advanced molecular, and bio-membrane technologies in fostering
Enzymatic degradation the bioremediation of MNPs from various environmental compartments along with their pros and cons and pros-
pects for future research.
© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Biological and toxicological effect of micro-nano plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Microbial-degradation of micro-nano plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1. Mechanism of micro-nano plastics biodegradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2. Microbial degradation of micro-nano plastics in wastewater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3. Microbial degradation of micro-nano plastics in sewage sludge and municipal solid waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.4. Microbial degradation of micro-nano plastics in compost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. Recent advancement in micro-nano plastics degradation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.1. Enzyme-assisted degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2. Advance molecular technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3. Bio-membrane technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5. Conclusion and future prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Declaration of competing interest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1. Introduction sink into the ocean via rivers and atmospheric transportation (Hurley
and Nizzetto, 2018; Sridharan et al., 2021b).
Plastics as a readily available, cost-effective, and convenient material The presence of MNPs in the natural environment triggers the adap-
are widely used in industries and our day-to-day life worldwide, and tation mechanism of microorganisms to cope up with adverse impacts
bring a lot of convenience for mankind. Along with its convenient appli- of MNPs (Yang et al., 2020). Microbes respond to environmental stress
cation, recently, it has aroused as a global environment menace (Ali in various ways, such as increasing or decreasing the growth, metabolic
et al., 2021a; Ali et al., 2021b; Cheng et al., 2021). It is certainty due to rate (Fuke et al., 2021; Kumar et al., 2021a; Mishra et al., 2021), and bio-
the increasing demand and consumption of plastic products leading to synthesis of new microbial bioproducts to avoid the environmental
accumulation of a large number of used or spent plastics in the environ- stress (Guan and Liu, 2020; Kumar et al., 2016; Thakur et al., 2018).
ment (Kumar et al., 2021c). Plastics waste become environmental con- These abiotic and biotic stress responses are meticulously associated
taminants and cannot be degraded in the natural surrounding even in with change in genes expression and enzymatic activities (Othman
100 year (Ricardo et al., 2021; Tiwari et al., 2020). Brahney et al. et al., 2021). These microbial enzymes are not only associated with cel-
(2020) reported and estimated that 11 billion tons of plastics will be ex- lular response, but simultaneously facilitate the microbial degradation
pected to accumulate in the environment by 2025. However, currently, of environmental pollutants, including MPs. For instance, the microbial
the recovery rate of plastics is no more than 5%. Moreover, the plastics assisted enzymatic degradation of plastics polymer breaks polymers
that we call “white pollution” due to various physical, chemical and bi- into monomers which can be further used by microbes as carbon and
ological activities will be disintegrated into smaller fragments collec- energy source. Moreover, bacterial assisted composting reduced the
tively termed as MNPs. Plastic fragments less than 5 mm in diameter abundance of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and polyethylene (PE)
are defined as micro-plastics (MPs) (Kumar et al., 2020a). MNPs by 13–29% (Sun et al., 2021). Similarly, MNPs in sewage sludge
The size of nano-plastics (NPs) is smaller (<100 nm), therefore, it could be effectively degraded during the composting process under
has more serious impacts on living tissue than MPs. NPs can readily the action of bacterial bio-oxidation (Chen et al., 2020). Studies also
pass through the cell membrane and adversely impact the cell and tis- claimed that green algae may be one of the natural degraders of
sues (Wu et al., 2021). MNPs often tend to be difficult to handle and re- MNPs, especially under aquatic marine ecosystem (Kiendrebeogo
move, but also, displayed greater impact on living organisms than et al., 2021).
macro particulate plastics (Kumar et al., 2021b). MNPs cannot only re- Currently, the more mature technology to remove MNPs from ter-
lease organic toxicants but accumulate in living beings and also act as restrial environment includes physical and chemical technologies,
carriers of organic and inorganic toxicants (Bradney et al., 2019; Wang such as micro/nano filtration in sewage treatment plants (STPs) (Dey
et al., 2021b). MNPs also interact and react with organic and inorganic et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2019). However, physical remediation technology
environmental pollutants and even they can facilitate their transport is considered as ineffective in remediation of MNPs from polluted areas.
to environmental compartments (Sridharan et al., 2021a; Sridharan Similarly, the application of synthetic chemical to remediate MNPs con-
et al., 2021b). These reactions enable MNPs to serve as substrates for ac- taminated site is considered as a less attractive approach due to its com-
cumulating and vector for transporting the organic and inorganic con- plexity, non-greener nature, and heterogeneity of the polymers and
taminants (Horton et al., 2017; Ricardo et al., 2021). Therefore, MNPs environmental setting (Arpia et al., 2021). Therefore, considering the
enhance the bioaccumulation of other pollutants in the environment. ecological threat of MNPs, there is an urgent need to develop a cost-
The sources of MNPs commonly recognized by researchers mainly effective and environmentally sustainable remediation technology. It
come from the crushing of large pieces of plastics and the specialized is known that there are few microorganisms that can degrade MNPs,
production of micro-beads for various applications along with natural and there are also few enzymes that play a specific role in the biodegra-
disintegration of larger plastic fragments (Camins et al., 2020; Cheng dation of MNP polymers (Danso et al., 2019; Jacquin et al., 2019; Jenkins
et al., 2021). The ultimate destination of MNPs is deposition in soil or et al., 2019). Biotechnology is an emerging bioremediation technology,
2
which is gaining attention these days. As an environment-friendly tech- Therefore, the current review critically emphasized the biological
nology, bioremediation warrants more researching to solve the problem and toxicological impacts of MNPs, role of diverse microbes, their en-
of MNP pollution in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem (Fig. 1). Only a zymes, and diverse mechanisms involved in biodegradation of MNPs
few research and reviews have discussed the degradation of MNPs in in wastewater stream, MSW and composting, starting with their eco-
detail by biological means (Othman et al., 2021; Priya et al., 2021; Sun toxicological impacts on living well-being. Furthermore, this review
et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2021; Yuan et al., 2020), but still, the mechanism firstly discussed the enzymatic, advanced molecular, and bio-
and potential routes of MNPs degradation in terrestrial and aquatic en- membrane technologies deployed in remediation of MNPs along with
vironments are unexplored. their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, this review discussed the
Fig. 1. An overview of microbial degradation of MNPs.
3
research gaps, which need further consideration in future research to produce reproductive toxicity to fish and animals, and even have lethal
make biodegradation of MNPs more effective and sustainable. effect if the dosage exceeds a certain limit. The hatching rate of fertilized
eggs and the body length of fish larvae decreased significantly when ex-
2. Biological and toxicological effect of micro-nano plastics posed to MPs. Gut obstruction by MPs can cause abnormal animal be-
havior. Huang et al. (2021) studied different impacts of new and aged
The eco-toxicity of MNPs in organisms is a persistent threat to the MPs on the composition of red tilapia. MPs are accumulated in fish
ecosystem. MNPs can attract pollutants with positive charges because body, and the content in the liver is always higher than that in other tis-
most of their surfaces are negatively charged (Bradney et al., 2019). sues.
Moreover, they can also be absorbed by microorganisms or animals. MNPs pollution changes the physico-chemical characteristics of soil.
MNPs can trigger anomalous metabolic reactions in body of living or- Toxic additives in the manufacturing process of plastics and pollutants
ganisms, as well as abnormal immune reactions that can damage the carried on the surface of MPs enter the soil environment with MPs
health (Allouzi et al., 2021). Zebrafish exposure to polystyrene (PS) re- and adversely affect the microbial habitat of the soil (Guo et al., 2020).
sults in oxidative stress and immune function limitation (Xu et al., MNPs along with the release of associated toxic chemicals can affect
2021). Low density polyethylene (LDPE) increases the oxidative stress, various soil properties including soil pH, conductivity, texture, nutri-
neurotoxicity, and skin impairment in Eisenia fetida within 28 days ents, such as ammonium nitrogen, and organic carbon (OC) (de Souza
(Chen et al., 2020) (Table 1). Similarly, Jiang et al. (2020) observed Machado et al., 2018; Kim et al., 2020b). The mobility of plastic frag-
DNA damage, oxidative stress, hepatological disparities, reduced ments increases with decreasing their size. MNPs are absorbed or
growth and increased mortality, when Eisenia fetida exposed to PS for adsorbed by the roots of plants in the soil and enter the plant system
14 days. Chae and An (2020) also observed variations in the nursing (Rillig, 2020; Rillig et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2021). The degree of influence
and scavenging behaviors, inhibited growth and development in the of plants by MNPs is in the order of roots, leaves, buds and stems (Zhang
Achatina fulica when exposed to PS polymers for 14 days. MPs will et al., 2020b). The MNPs suspended in the air settles on the surface of
Table 1
Selected references for impacts of plastic polymers and their additives on living organisms and plants.
Polymers and/or Species Media Duration Experimental dose Observation References

additives (days)
Polymers
PS Achatina fulica Soil 14 10 mg kg−1 w/w Variations in the nursing and scavenging behaviors, (Chae and An, 2020)
inhibited development
PS Caenorhabditis Synthetic 3 100 μg L−1 Intestinal damage (Yu et al., 2020)
elegans media
−1
Low density Eisenia fetida Soil 28 1.5 g kg Oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, skin impairment (Chen et al., 2020)
polyethylene
(LDPE)
PS E. fetida Soil 14 1000 μg kg−1 DNA damage, oxidative stress and hepatological (Jiang et al., 2020)
disparities, reduced growth and increased mortality
PET A. fulica Soil 28 0.71 g kg−1 Variations in ingestion habits and deprived nutrient (Song et al., 2019)
intake
−1
PS Vicia faba Soil 2 10–100 m L Oxidative injury, reduced development (Jiang et al., 2019a)
PS C. elegans Synthetic 1 17.3–86.8 mg L−1 Retard movement, and metabolism, infertility (Kim and An, 2019)
media
PS Daphnia Freshwater – – Oxidative injury (Zhang et al., 2019)
magna
LDPE E. fetida Soil 14 16–200 particles kg−1 Behavioral changes (Rodríguez-Seijo et al.,
2019)
−1
Poly vinyl chloride Paracentrotus Marine 1 0.3–30 mg L Retard larval growth (Oliviero et al., 2019)
(PVC) lividus water
PP, PVC C. pyrenoidosa, Synthetic 3 5–500 mg L−1 Significantly decreased chlorophyll a, Impaired (Wu et al., 2019)
Microcystis media development
PVC Metaphire Soil 28 2000 mg kg−1 Variations in the gut microbial diversity (Zocchi and Sommaruga,
californica 2019)
PE F. candida Synthetic 28 1% w/w Variation in intestinal microbial diversity, change in (Ju et al., 2019)
media nourishing behavior, infertility
−1
Mixture polymers Tetraselmis Synthetic 4 4 mg L Inhibited development (Davarpanah and
chuii media Guilhermino, 2019)
Additives
Phenanthrene Gammarus Freshwater – – Impaired locomotion, induced neurotoxicity (Bartonitz et al., 2020)
roeseli
Tetracycline Enchytraeus Soil – 1000 mg kg−1 Improved antibiotic resistant genes (Ma et al., 2020)
crypticus
Butylated hydroxy D. rerio Freshwater – – Stunted development with abnormal larval growth (Zhao et al., 2020)
anisole
−1
Polyaromatic Danio rerio Freshwater – 10 mg L Decreased vascular growth and energy generation (Trevisan et al., 2019)
hydrocarbons mechanism
(PAHs)
Fluoranthene Mytilus edulis Marine – – Change in enzymatic secretion (Magara et al., 2019)
water
Polychlorinated D. magna Freshwater – 1 mg L−1 Induced mortality (Latha and Lalithakumari,
biphenyls 2001; Lin et al., 2019)
−1
PAHs Perinereis Water – 0.4 mg L PS heightened the accumulation of PAHs (Jiang et al., 2019b)
aibuhitensis sediment
Glyphosate D. magna Freshwater – – Induced mortality rate (Zocchi and Sommaruga,
2019)
4
the leaves of the aboveground part of the plants (Sridharan et al., microorganisms in biodegradation of MNPs is a promising approach
2021b). Small particles, such as NPs can enter the plants and pass but due to its slower pace, incomplete mineralization, and unexplored
through the cell wall and cell membrane easily (de Souza Machado degradation mechanism, this technology is in infancy stage and simulta-
et al., 2018). More mature, larger trees and arboreal plants are more neously gaining attention (Ru et al., 2020; Silva et al., 2018;
enriched in MNPs, which may be attributed to their larger and stout Anastopoulos and Pashalidis, 2021) (Fig. 2 and Table 2).
structures of roots (Khalid et al., 2020). Boots et al. (2019) have con-
firmed that the accumulation of MNPs adversely impact the photosyn- 3.1. Mechanism of micro-nano plastics biodegradation
thesis rate of the plants and each and every plant showed different
responses against the MNPs pollution. The chemical structure of MPs and their molecular weight as well as
types of microorganisms and other environmental conditions influence
3. Microbial-degradation of micro-nano plastics degradation of microbe-driven MPs. Different properties of MNPs, such
as, density, types of functional groups and their bioavailability as well as
As a green approach, microbial assisted degradation of plastics frag- plasticizers or chemical additives incorporated to MNPs during process-
ments leads to degeneration of the MNPs. It is easier to control changes ing influence their biodegradability (Yuan et al., 2020). Microbial
in plastic pollution because microbial degradation procedures are degradation of MNPs involves a number of biochemical reactions. Bio-
strongly dependent on both biotic and abiotic variables, such as pH, deterioration (change in polymers size, shape and chemical properties),
temperature, oxidative strain, etc. By using plastic fragments as a sole bio-fragmentation, biosynthesis, and mineralization are the steps in-
carbon source for the growth of microbes, the full degradation/elimina- volved in microbial MNP degradation (Tiwari et al., 2020). Hydrolase
tion of MNPs can be predicted using cutting-edge technologies, such as (extracellular) enzymes are released by bacteria and have the capacity
omics (Knott et al., 2020; Tiwari et al., 2020). Although, the use of to transform very complex molecules into polymers that can then be
Fig. 2. A schematic representation of recent development in bioremediation of MNPs.
5
Table 2
Microbial degradation of MNPs and key outcomes.
Year Region Plastic category Environment Microbial strain Exposure Key outcomes References
2021 USA MPs Wastewater (WW) Vibrio, Campylobacter, and In vitro Contribute to MP breakdown (Kelly et al., 2021)
Arcobacter
2020 China Low molecular Municipal solid Mesophilic strain, In vitro Biodegradability of 12.7–20.3% (Ru et al., 2020)
weight PP (Mn: waste (MSW) Stenotrophomonas panacihumi after 90 days
2800, 3600 Da)
and one high
molecular
weight MPs
2020 China MNPs Sewage sludge Acetobacteroides sp. In vitro Provide surfaces for microbial (Zhang and Chen, 2020)
attachment and growth; affect the
microbial metabolic performance
and potential nutrient metabolism
2020 China MPs Leaf-branch LC-cutinase; Saccharomonospora In vitro Hydrolyze low-crystallinity PET (Ru et al., 2020)
compost viridis; Thermobifida fusca cutinase package film (lcPET-P, 8.4%) at
50 °C and generate up to 50%
weight loss over 7 days; hydrolyze
the lcPET (7%) and lcPET-P (8.4%) at
63 °C
2021 UK and MPs WW Alteromonadaceae and In vitro Bacteria capable of degrading; LDPE (Yang et al., 2021)
China Burkholderiales; Alcanivorax degradation
borkumensis
2019 Australia MP and polymers MSW Microbial consortia (two isolates of In vitro 7% and 28% w/w of polypropylene (Judy et al., 2019)
and USA Pseudomonas sp.) (PP)
2019 Pakistan MPs MSW Pseudomonas fluorescence, In vitro Hydrolysis of polymers such as poly (Rana, 2019)
P. aeruginosa and Penicillium (ethylene adipate) (PEA) and poly
simplicissimum; Rhizopus delemar, (caprolactone) (PCL)
R. arrhizus, Achromobacter sp. and
Candida cylindracea
2019 India Polyethylene Sewage sludge Penicillium, Aspergillus, and In vitro Degradation of MP; associated with (Ghosh et al., 2019)
Fusarium a progressive decline in
hydrophobicity of the surface
2019 China MNPs Sewage sludge; Thermus, Bacillus, and Geobacillus In situ 43.7% of the MPs degraded from the (Chen et al., 2019)
hyperthermophilic sewage sludge
composting (hTC)
2018 China MPs Sewage sludge Microbe through the activity of In vitro MP can be decomposed to produce (Li et al., 2018)
exoenzymes (promoting biogas in anaerobic digesters
depolymerization)
2018 India MPs Compost Rhodococcus ruber, Brevibacillus In vitro Degrade MP in compost (Skariyachan et al., 2018)
borstelensis, Aspergillus niger,
Pseudomonas sp., Vibrio sp.,
Flavobacterium sp., Staphylococcus
sp., Micrococcus sp., Bacillus sp.,
Chelatococcus sp.
2017 India Micro polymer MSW Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 1 and B. In vitro LDPE degradation by 90 days; rate (Pathak and Navneet, 2017)
amyloliquefaciens 2; A. clavatus and efficiency of polymer
degradation determined by pH
alteration, CO2 evolution, weight
loss
2017 India MPs Compost A thermophilic microorganism In vitro Poly (D-3-hydroxybutyrate) (Pathak and Navneet, 2017)
(Streptomyces sp.) degradation at 50 °C
2017 USA MPs Compost Pseudomonas sp. Degrade 286% of 5% dry weight of (Wilkes and Aristilde, 2017)
LMW MPs after 40 days
converted into hydroxyl acid monomers (Kamrannejad et al., 2014; Lear into smaller fragments before being absorbed and biodegrade
et al., 2021). Polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB) hydrolysis yields R-3- within the cell. MPs are broken down by microbial enzymes and micro-
hydroxybutyric acid (HBA) whereas 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3- organisms by a mechanism that typically entails hydrolysis, which is a
hydroxy valerate (PHBV) are extraterrestrial PHBV degradation yields. common degradation process. The enzymatic hydrolysis and depoly-
Under aerobic conditions, water soluble monomers are subtly spread merization of MP polymers trigger the biodegradation of MPs. MPs can-
by the metabolic mechanism of living organisms, like oxidation and not be broken down without the aid of microbial enzymes (Yuan et al.,
the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), leading to the generation of carbon 2020). Microorganisms degraded high molecular weight (HMW)
dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). Under anaerobic environments, plastics via a number of mechanisms, including the use of MNPs as a car-
methane (CH4) is produced, and no harmful molecules are generated bon source for growth and development (Othman et al., 2021).
during the degradation of PHA.
Chitinases are enzymes biosynthesized by diverse groups of bacteria, 3.2. Microbial degradation of micro-nano plastics in wastewater
such as Achromobacter, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, and
Vibrio sp. They hydrolyze the polymer and break it down. Pseudomonas MNPs have been observed in vast quantities in contaminated and fil-
sp. has been discovered to degrade MPs particles, but the precise mech- tered water, surface water, such as oceanic water, streams, and rain
anism remains unknown. Further research revealed the application of water (Chandra et al., 2020; Kelly et al., 2021). The rate of biodegrada-
chitinase enzyme in enzymatic degradation of plastic polymer (Rogers tion of plastics depends on their molecular weight, crystal structure, or-
et al., 2020). Larger fragments size of MPs restricts their entry into the ganic functional groups, and additives (Arpia et al., 2021). Their
microbial cells via cell membrane. Therefore, it must be broken down biodegradation either via anaerobic or aerobic processes leads to the
6
generation of CH4 along with CO2 and H2O (Mitrano and Wohlleben, comparison to pure microbial strains, microbial consortia are being ef-
2020). Aerobic biodegradation of plastic fragments is profoundly fectively used to degrade the plastic polymers from the environment
impacted by abiotic factors, such as climate, salinity, UV-radiation, and (Hussain, 2019; Li et al., 2021). The development of microbial consortia
co-contaminants that can either encourage or impede microbial coloni- using two Pseudomonas sp. demonstrated better degrading abilities
zation and bio-degradation (Arpia et al., 2021). Many bacterial taxa may than established species which are the subject of this research. Consor-
form biofilms on the surface of plastic fragments via biosynthesis of ex- tia may also be formed with actinomycetes and fungi, which can have
tracellular polysaccharides (EPS). Biofilm formation on the surface of improved outcomes in terms of plastic and polymer degradation
MNPs results fragmentation of MNPs into smaller size and finally its bio- (Skariyachan et al., 2018; Tsering et al., 2021).
degradation. Several bacterial taxa, such as Vibrio, Campylobacter, and Plastic resistant bacterial strains, such as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 1
Arcobacter are well reported which can degrade MNPs during the treat- and B. Amyloliquefaciens 2 have been isolated from solid waste sample
ment of WW (Kelly et al., 2021). Bacteria can degrade MNPs in contam- and have been applied for plastic degradation (Pathak and Navneet,
inated water by producing enzymes like PETase and MHETase. As a 2017; Wang et al., 2019). The study demonstrated the degradation of
result, it's a good idea to look at the very tiny molecules that can plastic by both the bacterial strains as monitored by CO2 emission,
shape these kinds of enzymes in order to eliminate MNP from WW weight loss, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), and
streams (Dey et al., 2021). MNPs have a higher surface area to volume Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), analysis. They also isolated a
ratio, providing a larger area for microbial colonization and their possi- fungal strain, which has been known as A. clavatus, from a local waste
ble degradation. disposal site. This study revealed the degradation of LDPE by A. clavatus
The quantification of CO2 and CH4 emission during mineralization of observed by SEM, and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) (Pathak and
MNPs can be used to quantify the percentage of biodegradation of MNPs Navneet, 2017). Microorganisms use a variety of strategies to degrade
(Hussain, 2019; Ariza-Tarazona et al., 2020). MNPs with organic high-density plastics, as carbon source or indirect action of microbial en-
additives contain oxygen (O), N, and sulphur (S) heteroatoms serve as zymes. P. fluorescence, P. aeruginosa, and Penicillium simplicissimum are
hydrolytic and enzymatic action targets. The hydrolyzed and bacterial and fungal species, respectively that are well known for their
depolymerized MNPs fragments by the action of the extracellular mi- plastic degradation ability. However, certain enzymes, such as lipases, es-
crobial enzymes can be further used by microorganism as carbon and terases, and cutinases, have a remarkable ability to hydrolyze polymers
energy source (Mammo et al., 2020). Several bacterial groups have like polyethylene adipate and polycaprolactone. Fungal species, such as
been involved in biodegradation of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3- Rhizopus delemar, Achromobacter sp., R. arrhizus, and Candida cylindracea
hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBH), such as Alteromonadaceae and are also sources of enzymes like lipases and esters which are involved in
Burkholderiales. Furthermore, Erythrobacter sp. and Alcanivorax borkum MNP degradation (Rana, 2019).
growing on MP biofilms have been shown to be involved in eliminating
low-density PE in aquatic environment (Yang et al., 2020). Studies re- 3.4. Microbial degradation of micro-nano plastics in compost
lated to MNPs removal from WW via primary (50–98%), secondary
(0.2–14%), and tertiary (0.2–2%) treatments have been reported re- Contamination due to smaller fragments of plastic waste is one of
cently (Dey et al., 2021). Nevertheless, in most of the studies, limited ev- the most serious issues confronting the compost industry (Esan et al.,
idence was provided about microbial degradation of MNPs in WW via 2019). In-situ biodegradation for field-based MNPs using hyper-
biological/secondary treatment. Therefore, future studies must explore thermophilic composting (hTC) approach has been projected and thor-
the roles of microbes in biodegradation of MNPs from WW stream. oughly verified. 43.7% of MNPs are remediated from WW sludge after
45 days hTC action, the largest percentage ever recorded by biodegrada-
3.3. Microbial degradation of micro-nano plastics in sewage sludge and tion in MNPs. According to high-throughput sequences, Thermus, Bacil-
municipal solid waste lus, and Geobacillus are the most common biodegradation bacteria in the
hTC age. These findings show that hyper-thermophilic bacteria play a
Generally, most of the MNPs are eliminated from WW after treat- crucial role in MNP bio-degradation during the hTC, pointing to a poten-
ment but retained in the sludge (Liu et al., 2021). It was observed that tial technique for removing MNPs (Chen et al., 2019). At 50 °C, LC-
the occurrence of MNPs in sludge is higher than WW (Sun et al., 2019; cutinase, which is encapsulated in a specific metagenomic inventory
Aslam et al., 2020). Similarly, abundance of MNPs was reported higher of leaf-branch composting, can hydrolyzes low-crystallinity PET box
in primary sludge than secondary sludge. Gies et al. (2018) assessed oc- film (lcPET-P, 8.4%) and yield up to 50% of weight in 7 days. Further-
currence of 0.54–1.28 trillion MNPs in primary sludge and 0.22–0.36 more, at 63 °C, cutinase Cut190 from Saccharomonospora viridis can hy-
trillion in activated/secondary sludge in wastewater treatment plant drolyze lcPET (7%) and lcPET-P (8.4%), ensuing in weight reduction of
(WWTP) in Vancouver, Canada, which showed the importance of mi- 13.5 and 27.0% of lcPET and lcPET-P, correspondingly, for more than
crobial assisted remediation of MNPs in secondary treatment. Similar 3 days. It was recently discovered that Recminifida fusca cutinase TfCut2
to the sludge, MSW is also considered as a potential source of MNPs to secreted by B. subtilis can minimize lcPET films (7%) by weight reduction
environment. MNPs found in MSW can be linked with various micro in- to 97.0% and low PET observations with crystallinity from postconsumer
organic and organic pollutants that can impose harmful impacts on the bundles (AP-PET, 5%; CP-PET, 6%) by weight loss to 50.5 and 56.6%, corre-
environment and human health as they enter the food chain (Golwala spondingly within 5 days at 70 °C (Ru et al., 2020). About 10% of indepen-
et al., 2021). dent plastic degradation tests have recorded polymer biodegradation
Indigenous microbial communities reside in MSW and sewage below 50 °C, resulting 0.5% biodegraded plastics obtained in the extreme
sludge are known to their plastic degradation potency. Ru et al. environmental settings like hot springs, compost, and anaerobic mounds
(2020) recently reported that, after 90 days, the mesophilic, (Ru et al., 2020). That extreme environmental setting could be a potential
Stenotrophomonas panacihumi, has been confirmed to break polypropyl- source of plastic degrading microbes and enzymes.
ene (PP) into low (Mn: 2800, 3600 Da) and high (Mn: 44,000 Da) mo- Scientific research is gradually focusing on implementing the regula-
lecular weight form. Similarly, the bacterial strain Rhodococcus tions that allow biological approach of bio-plastics degradation in both
degraded 6.4% of the PP polymer mass in 40 days (Ariza-Tarazona aerobic and anaerobic natural waste treatment processes (Bhatia et al.,
et al., 2019). Moreover, the complete degradation of polyethylene tere- 2013; Ruggero et al., 2019). Small plastics are naturally disintegrated
phthalate (PET) film by Ideonella sakaiensis within 6 weeks was re- using a number of processes, and thermophilic compost is a promising
ported by Yoshida et al. (2016) and 28% particle diameter reduction way to remove unwanted plastic fragments from the setting. Streptomy-
was found after 60 days using wild bacterial strains Bacillus sp., and ces sp., a thermophilic microbe that emerges from the soil alone and is
Paenibacillus sp., isolated from landfill site by Park and Kim (2019). In documented to degrade poly (D-3-hydroxybutyrate) at 50 °C;
7
Streptomyces sp. demonstrated the rate of degradation of PE succinate. longer polymeric chain length (Sridharan et al., 2021a). The HMW of
Similarly, Bacillus sp. TT96, a thermophilic bacterial strain showed the the organic compound bids a hindrance in facile transportation trans-
potency of PE succinate degradation during composting (Pathak and versely to the microbial cell membrane and hence its depolymerization
Navneet, 2017). becomes critical (Oberbeckmann and Labrenz, 2020). To boost the bio-
Polyurethane foam (PUR foam) is also a significant environmental con- degradation of plastic particulates, various advanced methods have
taminant and creates a most difficult waste disposal issue. In vitro, Pseudo- been espoused recently like enzymatic/enzyme-assisted degradation
monas chlororaphis was able to eliminate polyester PUR foam (Pathak and (Priya et al., 2021), advance molecular tools and technologies
Navneet, 2017). Gram-negative Pseudomonas, a multi-species aerobic (Sudhakar et al., 2007; Purohit et al., 2020), membrane bioreactor
proteo-bacteria, is one of the few organisms that usually degrade polymers (MBR)-assisted remediation (Poerio et al., 2019), nano-technologies-
in the soil. Other Gram-positive bacteria, such as Rhodococcus ruber (aero- based remediation (Uheida et al., 2021) etc. The discussion relating to
bic, non-sporulating and, non-motile) and Brevibacillus borstelensis, have all these technologies is presented in this section.
been found to eliminate polymers by using them as a carbon source. Ac-
cording to Skariyachan et al. (2018), fungal species like Aspergillus niger 4.1. Enzyme-assisted degradation
and bacteria species like Pseudomonas and Vibrio are able to make a con-
sortium which improve the biodegradation of plastic fragments by It is implicit that once plastic wastes are dumped into the natural
syntrophic mechanism. Furthermore Flavobacterium sp., Micrococcus sp., ecosystem, they may undergo disintegration/degradation as a result of
Staphylococcus sp., Bacillus sp., Chelatococcus sp., and a few thermophilic the synergic impact of abiotic and biotic factors (Kumar et al., 2020a).
bacteria are well known to biodegrade plastic in compost (Skariyachan Microbial-assisted biodegradation of plastic waste has emerged out as
et al., 2018; Skariyachan et al., 2015). a greener and effective strategy as discussed in Section 3 comprehen-
sively. A microbial diversity of genes, proteins, enzymes, and their in-
4. Recent advancement in micro-nano plastics degradation volvement in diverse metabolic routes have been recognized
significantly to alter the plastic polymers and enable the process of de-
The key properties of particulate plastic which make them inert to- polymerization (Priya et al., 2021; Yuan et al., 2020) (Fig. 3). Diverse
ward biodegradation include their hydrophobic nature, HMW, and groups of microbial enzymes, such as cutinases, lipases, esterases,
Fig. 3. Microorganisms and their respective enzymes in de-polymerization of synthetic plastics.
8
carboxylesterases, and etc. have been reported to alter and/or degrade PETase (hydrolase) and MHETase when subject to PET as a carbon
range of plastic fragments (Zhang et al., 2020a) (Table 3). Also, various source. These two biological catalysts enable to degraded PET into
oxygenases, such as monooxygenases and dioxygenases have been re- more facile compounds, like terephthalic acid (TPA), mono(2-
ported to facilitate the enzymatic alteration of synthetic plastic via oxi- hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (MHET), and bis(2-hydroxyethyl) tere-
dation process (Jaiswal et al., 2020; Xu et al., 2020). phthalate (BHET). Furthermore, MHET is hydrolyzed to TPA and ethyl-
The oxidation improves the hydrophilic property of the plastic poly- ene glycol (EG) by the activity of MHETase (Kim et al., 2020a; Xu
mer, which promotes further colonization of microbes on it and release et al., 2020). Moreover, TPA is converted into protocatechuic acid
of various plastic degrading enzymes, such as esterases, hydrolases, and, (PCA), then PCA 3, 4 dioxygenase (PCA34) act on PCA and generate 4-
lipases (Kim et al., 2020a; Onda et al., 2020; Puglisi et al., 2019). The Cu- carboxy-2-hydroxymuconic, which is further dehydrogenated and gen-
binding enzyme (laccase), extracted from R. ruber and A. flavus is well erate 2-pyrone-4-6-dicarboxylic acid. The generated 2-pyrone-4,6-di-
known for its role in biodegradation of PE (Zhang and Chen, 2020; carboxylic acid used in the TCA cycle and converted into pyruvate and
Priya et al., 2021). Similarly, bacterial species, R. rhodochrous, was tested oxaloacetate, and finally mineralized and released as CO2 and H2O
to biodegrade and utilize PE oligomers with using specific carrier pro- (Mahdi et al., 2016; Tourova et al., 2020).
teins, such as ATP binding cassettes (ABC) or major facilitator superfam- Several fungal genera, such as Fusarium, Humicola, and Penicillium
ily (MFS) (Eyheraguibel et al., 2017; Gravouil et al., 2017). Gravouil et al. are well known as PET bio-degraders with the help of various enzymes,
(2017) studied, growth of the bacteria in PE-supplemented media along such as cutinase, polyesterase, and hydrolase (da Costa et al., 2020;
with their enzymatic expression. The consumption of PE by the mi- Kawai et al., 2019; Palm et al., 2019). The most preferable enzyme was
crobes involved a sequence of actions, starting from the participation cutinases obtained from Fusarium and Humicola. Due to the accumula-
of acetyl coA and succinyl coA in the TCA cycle, then generation of en- tion of MHET as intermediate during the degradation of PET, Humicola
ergy currency as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen cutinase action is inadequate, therefore, to overcome this, lipase ob-
(NADH). The generated energy packet is further applied in the genera- tained from C. antarctica is applied which entirely converts MHET into
tion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through the electron transport TPA (Carniel et al., 2017; Moharir and Kumar, 2019). PET esterases
chain (ETC), CO2 and H2O as by product in the process of PE mineraliza- have also been observed to facilitate the hydrolysis of bis
tion (Fig. 4). The basic findings related to PE biodegradation revealed (benzoyloxyethyl)-terephthalate and polycaprolactone just like PET hy-
the involvement of specific genes, enzymes, and various transporter drolases (Hajighasemi et al., 2018; Nabi et al., 2020). A study performed
proteins (Gravouil et al., 2017; Kumari and Chaudhary, 2020). Specific by Luu et al. (2013) using styrene monooxygenase (extracted from
genes, like alkane hydroxylase (alkB) of Pseudomonas sp. E4 strain en- P. putida F1 strain) assisted degradation of PS along styrene epoxide
abled to degrade the PE up to 28.6% in 80 days. Furthermore, to verify assisted oxidation. In the second step of oxidation, monooxygenase gen-
the potency of alkB gene, Escherichia coli BL21 strain was selected as erate phenylacetaldehyde from styrene epoxide which further converts
host in which the expression of gene was performed and achieved into phenylacetic acid (PAA). Furthermore, PAA is converted into
19.3% enzymatic degradation of the PE (Llorente-García et al., 2020; phenylacetyl-CoA due to action of various enzymes and enters into
Yoon et al., 2012). the TCA cycle as acetyl-Co A and succinyl-CoA. Bacterial strain
Diverse groups of marine and soil bacteria have been reported for P. putida CA-3 was applied to degrade PS via specific rout known as
production of hydrolases and their role in the enzymatic degradation Phenylacetyl-CoA catabolon. This route employs the action of catabolic
of plastic wastes (Kawai et al., 2019; Tourova et al., 2020). The PET hy- operon, which facilitates the utilization of PS by P. putida CA-3, and pro-
drolase produced by Ideonella sakaiensis has been investigated to de- duction of PHAs (O'Leary et al., 2005).
grade MHET, and showed similar activity like tannases (Palm et al., Synthetic plastic variants, such as PUR, have also been well reported
2019). The bacterium strain Ideonella sakaiensis has enabled to produce to undergo enzymatic degradation (Jenkins et al., 2019). Comamonas
Table 3
Selected references of enzyme mediated degradation of plastic polymers.
Plastic polymer Microorganisms Enzymes References
PUR P. chlororaphis, P. protegens BC212 Lipase (Danso et al., 2019; Hung et al., 2016)
Pseudomonas chlororaphis Polyurethanase (Howard and Blake, 1998; Zheng et al., 2005)
P. fluorescence; Rhodococcus equi Protease; aryl acylamidase (Howard et al., 2001; Purohit et al., 2020)
Pestalotiopsis microspora Serine hydrolase (Russell et al., 2011)
PS P. putida AJ, P. putida CA-3 Alkane hydroxylase (Danko et al., 2004; O'Leary et al., 2005)
Microbial consortia Styrene monooxygenase; (Danso et al., 2019; Jacquin et al., 2019)
(Bacillus, Micrococcus, Nocardia, Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus) Styrene oxide
Isomerase; Phenylacetaldehyde
dehydrogenase
PP Bacillus subtilis; B. flexus; P. stutzeri – (Arkatkar et al., 2009)
Alcaligenes; Pseudomonas, Vibrio – (Cacciari et al., 1993)
Pseudophormidium sp. – (Urbanek et al., 2018)
PET Humicola sp. Cutinase (Danso et al., 2019)
Fusarium sp. Cutinase (O'Neill et al., 2007)
Pseudomonas sp. Lipase (Jacquin et al., 2019; Lewin et al., 2016)
Ideonella sakaiensis MHETase; PETase (Yoshida et al., 2016)
Thermobifida fusca/Thermomonospora fusca Cutinase; lipase (Müller et al., 2005)
PE Penicillium simplicissimum Lipase (Yamada-Onodera et al., 2001)
Phanerochaete chrysosporium Manganese peroxidase (Shimao, 2001)
Rhodococcus ruber Laccase (Santo et al., 2013)
Nylon; Agromyces sp. Nylon hydrolase (Negoro et al., 2012)
polycaprolactone Trametes versicolor Laccase (Fujisawa et al., 2001)
White-rot fungus IZU-154, Amycolatopsis sp. Manganese peroxidase
PVC Alteromonadaceae (Alteromonas); Cellvibrionaceae; Oceanospirillaceae; – (Jacquin et al., 2019; Danso et al., 2019)
Aestuariicela
Polyporus versicolor; Pleurotus sajor caju; Thermomonospora fusca – (Kleeberg et al., 1998; Purohit et al., 2020)
9
Fig. 4. A schematic representation of bio-mineralization of plastic waste.
acidovorans TB-35 bacterial strain has been deployed to biodegrade PUR Various metabolic engineering approaches have been developed re-
via action of an esterase called as pudA (Yuan et al., 2020). Moreover, di- cently and executed either individualistically or in association with ge-
verse groups of fungal species, such as Candida ethanolica, Aspergillus fu- netically engineered construct well known to degrade recalcitrant
migates, Penicillium chrysogenum, Fusarium solani, and Candida rugosa pollutants (Kumar et al., 2020b; Taha et al., 2021). Systems
have also been well characterized and reported to degrade PUR via var- metabolomic engineering has appeared as a significant strategy that as-
ious enzymes like lipase, esterases, and hydrolases (Jenkins et al., 2019; sists the success of engineered microbes with improved cellular growth
Kalita et al., 2020; Vanleeuw et al., 2019). Arthrobacter bacterial species and achieves better plastic degradation efficiency (Yang et al., 2017).
have been reported for production of various hydrolases and amino- The progression in gene editing technologies and tools (TALENs, and
transferases which have capability to degrade nylon oligomer. The the CRISPR/Cas9) also leads to improvement in the plastic degradation
whole genome sequence of this bacterial strain confirms the presence potency microbes (Gaj et al., 2013; Priya et al., 2021). These approaches
of nylD1 and nylE1 genes, which encodes 6-aminohexanoate amino- can be practically applied for the introduction of genes in the genomes
transferase and adipate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, respectively of microbes which encodes various plastic degrading enzymes, such as
that jointly facilitated the metabolization of 6-aminohexanoate and PETase, esterase, depolymerase, laccase and etc. (Gaj et al., 2013; Tofa
adipate semialdehyde to adipate semialdehyde and adipate, respec- et al., 2019).
tively (Gatz-Schrupp et al., 2020; Yuan et al., 2020). Various investigations have emphasized that the biodegradation of
plastic waste by the wild microbes is slow in comparison to the
4.2. Advance molecular technologies engineered constructs (Gu, 2021). For example, engineered enzyme
construct cutinase was reported to reduce the degradation time of
The advancements in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology PUR 41.8 to 6.2 h in comparison to their wild counterpart (Islam et al.,
led to the development of robust microbial strains, which showed im- 2019). Syranidou et al. (2019) have confirmed the enhanced plastic bio-
proved biotransformation potency and recycling of synthetic plastics degradation capability of manipulated marine microbes' consortia. The
in greener way. Genetic modification strategies act as influential tech- modified plastic degrader microbes can be applied in depolymerization
nologies to modify the inherent characteristics of microbes and enhance of plastic polymers. In spite of several triumphs associated with genetic
their efficiency to biodegrade plastic wastes (Gu, 2021). Furthermore, engineering of the microorganism at lab-scales, most of the engineered
the systems biology strategy applied various omics strategies, such as microorganisms have displayed unsatisfactory outcomes at field-scale.
genomics, metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, etc. The comprehensive knowledge about this information may improve
to improve the monitoring of degradation of diverse range of environ- the biodegradation of plastic polymers. Bioinformatics has arisen as an
mental contaminants (Basu et al., 2018; Kumar et al., 2019; Kumar effective tool for enhancing the biodegradation of contaminants includ-
et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2018a; Kumar et al., 2018b) (Fig. 5). ing MNPs (Purohit et al., 2020). Various databases related to
10
Fig. 5. Application of advanced molecular technologies/genetic engineering in biodegradation of plastic waste.
biodegradation pathways and toxicities have been established to evalu- of synthetic biology (Purohit et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2021a). Neverthe-
ate the biodegradation. Few well-known databases, such as UM-BBD, less, there are knowledge gaps related to the diverse groups of synthetic
MetaCyc, BioCyc provide valuable information associated with micro- polymer degrader microorganisms and their responsible enzymes.
bial metabolic routes, microbial genes and enzymes, and their complex Hence, future investigations must emphasize the characterization and
enzymatic reactions which facilitate the biodegradation of recalibrates identification techniques of a robust polymer degrading microorganism
compounds like plastic polymers (Priya et al., 2021; Tourova et al., and their enzymes. An extensive investigation is essential at environ-
2020). These computational methods are specifically advantageous, mental microbiology and biotechnology level, a gene manipulation
not only in investigating and recognizing the responsible enzymes, but and a protein engineering levels to overcome the stumbling block in
simultaneously forecasting the biodegradation routes of toxic chemicals the field of biodegradation of plastic polymers. In the near future, com-
which were not previously recognized. This bioinformatics method cer- binatorial approaches, such as unification of bioinformatic tools, meta-
tainly created a joint platform at which metabolic engineering and syn- bolic engineering, genetics, molecular, and system biology may deliver
thetic biology could be enabled to build a novel approach for ground-breaking insight in the field of biodegradation of plastic poly-
biodegradation of plastics (Ali et al., 2021a; Ali et al., 2021b). Neverthe- mers.
less, the major disadvantages associated with bioinformatics and exper-
imental data are their unavailability, inaccessibility, and validation, 4.3. Bio-membrane technology
which need consideration in future research.
Synthetic biology, most importantly ‘omic’ investigations along with Bio-membrane technology or membrane bioreactor (MBR) technol-
computational biology and high throughput sequencing have consis- ogy is a set-up in which biological catalyst either microbes or enzymes,
tently played a major role in enlightening the microbial-plastic-sphere or both is linked with a partition method, ran by a film derived system,
interactions and subsequent degradation of polymers (Bouhajja et al., such as microfiltration and ultrafiltration (Dey et al., 2021; Xiao et al.,
2016; Wagner and Lambert, 2018). Moreover, designing a metabolic 2019). These days MBR is considered as an emerging technology for ef-
route for biodegradation of the synthetic polymers is also a key feature fective treatment of industrial and municipal WW globally. Also, MBR
11
has also been applied immensely in the field of food, pharmacology, environment, mainly focusing on the MNPs in WW, sewage sludge,
biorefinery, and biodiesel production (Judd, 2016). In the treatment of MSW, and compost along with their toxicological impacts. Moreover,
MPs, the MBR is applied to reduce the complexity of the MPs contami- this review comprehensively covered various approaches adopted
nated media by biodegrading the organic matters (OMs), resulting into by the scientific community recently to mitigate MNPs pollution in
improved degradation of MPs. The biodegradation procedure commonly WW, sewage sludge, MSW, and compost through bioremediation.
initiated, when a stream of pre-treated WW enters in the bioreactor, Moreover, several MNPs remediation approaches, such as enzymatic,
then biodegradation of OMs is performed over there. The remnant of bio-membrane, advanced molecular and nanoparticle technologies
treated liquid is impelled in a semi-cross flow filtration set-up for the re- have been described comprehensively in this review. Although, var-
moval procedure and concentrated in the retentate flow (Poerio et al., ious research investigations have been performed so far to mitigate
2019). MNPs via bioremediation and subsequently minimizing their eco-
Recently, Talvitie et al. (2017b) compared the efficiency of MBR toxicological impacts, still future investigations covering the aspects
with few others WW treatment methods like, disc-filter, rapid sand related to MNPs pollution, their impacts and mitigation strategies
filtration, and dissolved air flotation for separation of MPs. In com- must be conducted.
parison to the above-mentioned technologies, an MBR technology
displayed a substantial removal efficiency (99%) of MPs, improved • As for the sources and fate of MNPs in soil environment, and interac-
quality of final effluent, and reduced treatment steps. Smith (2018) tions with microorganisms, food crops and soil microbe, the scale of
and Talvitie et al. (2017b) demonstrated a relative investigation re- existing scientific research achievements is limited. The distribution,
lated to separation of MPs via Rapid Sand Filters (RSF), Reverse Os- transportation and degradation of MNPs needs to be assessed in
mosis (RO), Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF), and MBR. Finding of order to fully understand the long-term fate of MNPs in soil ecosys-
these studies established that the MBR technology was the most ef- tem.
fective in treatment of MPs polluted WW. Although MPs from WW • As carriers of various environmental pollutants, MNPs may promote
could be separated out via MBR during WWT operation (Talvitie or inhibit the mobility and bioavailability of the persistent and poten-
et al., 2017a), MPs treatment technologies which assist in the re- tially hazardous pollutants in agricultural soils. But specific mecha-
moval of the MPs from prevailing WWTP, are presently at the infancy nisms of MNP and pollutant interactions are still unclear which
phase of research. require consideration in the future work. Additionally, future research
MBRs are found to be effective in degradation of organic contam- should be more focused on NPs, as it has high penetration potential
inants in MNPs. For example, the application of MBR in biodegrada- than MPs.
tion of phthalate esters has been investigated at a laboratory-scale • The diversity of microorganisms and enzymes on the plastic-sphere is
alone or liked with secondary sludge, starting with various synthetic still limited. Therefore, future work must focus on identification of mi-
or natural WW (Camacho-Munoz et al., 2012), paper mill WW croorganisms on the plastic-sphere. In addition, it is a challenge for fu-
(Yoshida et al., 2016), MSW leachate (Boonyaroj et al., 2012), etc. ture microbiology researchers to select the effective microorganisms
In WWTP, the application of MBR displayed around 70% more elimi- used in the degradation process of MNPs.
nation of Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in comparison to tradi- • It is a very beneficial research task to obtain MNP degrading microbes
tional treatment technology (3%) (Camacho-Munoz et al., 2012) and and its further application in production of biopolymer, which is wor-
further enhanced (83%) if linked with primary adsorption. A com- thy of further investigation in order to promote its application in bio-
prehensive MPs biodegradation was achieved if MBR was linked degradation process. Furthermore, the recycling and synthesis of
with a primary anaerobic digestion along with RO filtration value-added products from the degraded plastics need extensive in-
(Balabanic et al., 2012). Nevertheless, the degradation efficiency of vestigation to manage bio-valorization of synthetic plastic in a circular
the MBR is firmly governed by the physico-chemical characteristics economy model.
of pollutants, and operation conditions, such as initial feeding rate • PVC is a thermoplastic. Only few fungal sp. has been reported which
and concentration, hydraulic retention time (HRT) etc. A significant can degrade the PVC. Still bacterial and enzymatic-assisted degrada-
finding, which could be in nearby future application linked with tion of PVC has not been reported that would be explored in future re-
MBR, is the isolated bacterium species, Ideonella sakaiensis enable search investigations.
to utilize PET as a carbon source (Yoshida et al., 2016). Particularly, • PP is generally used in cosmetics and personal care products (PCPs).
this bacterium species has specific enzyme mechanism which effi- Abundant groups of microbes are reported, which effectively degrade
ciently transformed PET into less toxic monomeric forms, such as the PP polymers. With various findings associated with microbial deg-
TPA and EG. More recently, Dawson et al. (2018) observed a reduc- radation of the PP, there are no reports available to enzymatic assisted
tion in size of MP from 31.5 to <1 μm when Antarctic Krill degradation of PP and their mechanism, which need consideration in
(Euphasia superba) act on it. An in-depth investigation of size reduc- future research work.
tion of MPs by Antarctic Krill revealed the involvement of complex
enzymatic mechanism. These enzymes will be effortlessly amalgam-
ated with the MBR in near future and it will undoubtedly biodegrade Declaration of competing interest
the MP as previously confirmed by Barth et al. (2015) for PET biodeg-
radation. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
5. Conclusion and future prospects ence the work reported in this paper.
MNPs are recognized as emerging persistent pollutants in the envi- Acknowledgments

ronment, which seriously pollute the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
WW, sewage sludge, MSW, and composts are considered as potential The authors are grateful for the financial support received from the
sources of MNPs pollution in the environment. There are several tech- Shaanxi Introduced Talent Research Funding (A279021901), and the In-
nologies, such as physical, chemical, biological/microbial adopted so troduction of Talent Research Start-up Fund (No. Z101022001), College
far to mitigate the MNPs menace. Biodegradation of plastics fragments of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University,
is considered as one of the impending solutions to cartel the environ- Yangling, Shaanxi Province 712100, China. We are also thankful to all
mental menace generated by MNPs due to its greener nature. Therefore, our laboratory colleagues and research staff members for their construc-
this review spotted light on the various sources of MNPs in the tive advice and help.
12
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Science of the Total Environment 802 (2022) 149823

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv

Challenges and opportunities in bioremediation of micro-nano plastics:

• Microbial degradation of micro-nano

Fig. 1. An overview of microbial degradation of MNPs.

Polymers and/or Species Media Duration Experimental dose Observation References

Fig. 2. A schematic representation of recent development in bioremediation of MNPs.

Fig. 3. Microorganisms and their respective enzymes in de-polymerization of synthetic plastics.

Plastic polymer Microorganisms Enzymes References

Fig. 4. A schematic representation of bio-mineralization of plastic waste.

Fig. 5. Application of advanced molecular technologies/genetic engineering in biodegradation of plastic waste.

MNPs are recognized as emerging persistent pollutants in the envi- Acknowledgments

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