Plastic-degrading fungus found in Pakistan rubbish dump

[Princess Turandot]

4. The Chinese Academy of Sciences site has a very good article on this with a bit more detail..

...from the English version of their website. (The research is being done by their Botany Institute.)

Watched by crows and vultures...

“we knew that one way to do this would be to look to solutions which already existed in nature, but finding microorganisms which can do the job isn’t easy”. In the end, the research team found their plastic-eating fungus living in an appropriate venue – a rubbish tip in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Watched by crows and vultures, the researchers took samples of soil and various pieces of rubbish in hopes of finding an organism which could feed on plastic waste in the same way that other fungi feed on dead plant or animal material.

Aspergillus tubingensis is a fungus which ordinarily lives in the soil. In laboratory trials, the researchers found that it also grows on the surface of plastics. It secretes enzymes onto the surface of the plastic, and these break the chemical bonds between the plastic molecules, or polymers.

Using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, the team found that the fungus also uses the physical strength of its mycelia – the network of root-like filaments grown by fungi – to help break apart the polymers. Plastics which persist in the environment for years can be broken down by A. tubingensis in a matter of weeks, the scientists say.

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/201703/t20170330_175543.shtml