Biodegradation of poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) film and foam plastic by Pseudozyma japonica sp. nov., a novel cutinolytic ustilaginomycetous yeast species.
Aliphatic polyesters poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and foam plastic have been shown to be biodegradable by microorganisms, which possess cutinolytic enzymes. Pseudozyma japonica-Y7-09, showed both high growth and enzyme activity on Yeast malt (YM) medium fed with PCL film than on YM medium. The hydrolytic enzyme activity of the culture on p-nitrophenyl butyrate indicated the occurrence of cutinase enzyme. This activity was confirmed by the degradation of PCL film which reached to the maximum (93.33 %) at 15 days and the degradation of foam plastic which reached 43.2 % at 30 days. These results suggest that the extracellular cutinase enzyme of Pseudozyma japonica-Y7-09 may be useful for the biological degradation of plastic wastes.
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswân, 81528, Egypt.
Fatma F
FF
Abdel-Motaal
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswân, 81528, Egypt. magradi2000@yahoo.com.
Magdi A
MA
El-Sayed
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswân, 81528, Egypt.
Soad A
SA
El-Zayat
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi, 753-8515, Japan.
Shin-Ichi
SI
Ito
Foam degradation; PCL degradation; Plastic degradation; Pseudozyma; Yeast