title: Biodegradation of HDPE by Aspergillus spp. from marine ecosystem of Gulf of Mannar, India.
abstract: High density polyethylene (HDPE) is the most commonly found non-degradable solid waste among the polyethylene. In this present study, HDPE degrading various fungal strains were isolated from the polyethylene waste dumped marine coastal area and screened under in vitro condition. Based on weight loss and FT-IR Spectrophotometric analysis, two fungal strains designated as VRKPT1 and VRKPT2 were found to be efficient in HDPE degradation. Through the sequence analysis of ITS region homology, the isolated fungi were identified as Aspergillus tubingensis VRKPT1 and Aspergillus flavus VRKPT2. The biofilm formation observed under epifluorescent microscope had shown the viability of fungal strains even after one month of incubation. The biodegradation of HDPE film nature was further investigated through SEM analysis. HDPE poses severe environmental threats and hence the ability of fungal isolates was proved to utilize virgin polyethylene as the carbon source without any pre-treatment and pro-oxidant additives.
authors.affiliation: Rhizosphere Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Rajendran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sangeetha Devi
authors.affiliation: Rhizosphere Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: uvrajesh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Velu
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rajesh Kannan
authors.affiliation: Rhizosphere Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Duraisamy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nivas
authors.affiliation: Rhizosphere Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Kanthaiah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kannan
authors.affiliation: Rhizosphere Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Sekar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandru
authors.affiliation: Rhizosphere Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Arokiaswamy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Robert Antony
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D017753:Ecosystem; D007194:India; D020959:Polyethylene / Q000032:analysis*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002244:Carbon; D020959:Polyethylene
keywords: Aspergillus flavus VRKPT2; Aspergillus tubingensis VRKPT1; Fourier transformed infra-red spectroscopy; HDPE; Scanning electron microscopy