Discovering Brazilian Biodiversity-Driven Plastic Degradation through Omics Analysis – BioPlastOmics

The extensive use of plastics since the middle of the last century and the lack of guidelines for the management of the huge amounts of waste they generate has led to contamination of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Among petroleum-derived plastics, the most used are polymers with C-C bonds like polyethylene (PE) or polystyrene (PS), and polyesters like polyethylene terephthalate (PET), highly recalcitrant materials that can persist in ecosystems for many years. Biological degradation of of these macromolecules it is not very effective, and natural decomposition is mostly mediated by abiotic factors, releasing micro and nanoplastics into the environment. BioPlastOmics aims to explore Brazil's exceptional biodiversity to address the problem of plastics pollution (with PE, PS and PET as models) by using cutting-edge omics techniques to identify new microbial strains and their active enzymes in micro/nanoplastics. The Brazilian partner will collect environmental samples of microbial communities from different plastic-contaminated habitats, isolate relevant fungal and bacterial strains, perform a preliminary screening of degradation of the model plastics, and analyze their properties and the toxicity of the products released from microbial action. The French team will tackle the taxonomical identification of the selected communities by metagenomics analysis and will search for genes that encode hypothetical degradative activities of interest for bioremediation. The Spanish partner will deal with the work related to protein analysis and characterization, secretomic analyses from the isolated microorganisms, gene expression for production of relevant enzymes from natural isolates or from metagenomes, protein purification and characterization. The outcomes of this project will comprise an exciting pool of data, compiling ecological information on the microbial diversity of the sampled areas and disclosing the adaptive strategies of exposed microbial communities for the degradation of these contaminants (novel or better-adapted biocatalysts, synergies between organisms or enzymes, etc.). This could finally be reflected in innovative biotechnological solutions (bioreactors with enzymes, microorganisms or consortia in water purification plants to combat plastic pollution for, contributing to biodiversity preservation.