The hungry worms can help solve plastic pollution

Plastic that supports Modern life is inexpensive, powerful and multi -use, but it is It is difficult to get rid of It has a serious effect when launching in the environment. Polyethylene, in particular, is the most productive plastic in the world, where more than 100 million tons have been distributed annually. Since it may take decades to analyze it – along the way it can harm wildlife and turn into harm MicroPlasticsGet rid of the urgent issue of humanity.

In 2017, European researchers find out A possible solution. The wax moth larvae, known as wax worms, enjoys the ability to break polyethylene into their bodies. Wax worms have been considered a scourge since ancient times because they volunteer the dissolution, and they feed on the wax of honey. However, we now know that it automatically feeds on polyethylene, which has a similar chemical structure.

“About 2000 wax worms can destroy the entire polyethylene bag in less than 24 hours, although we believe press release. Casson and his team are looking for how to harness these insects to help combat plastic pollution. He says: “Understanding biological mechanisms and the consequences of fitness associated with the biological decomposition is the key to the use of wax worms for plastic therapy on a large scale.”

In previous experiences, Casson and his team Discover Exactly how worms crashes polyethylene wax. To understand the mechanism of the digestive system, Casson feed the polyethylene to the wax worms for several days and follow the metabolism of insects and changes in the intestinal environment. They found that while the wax worms were eating polyethylene, their stool tel and contained glycol as a secondary product.

But when insect intestinal bacteria were suppressed by giving antibiotics, the amount of glycol in its stools was largely reduced. This revealed that the breakage of polyethylene depends on the intestinal microbes of the waxy worms.

The team also isolated bacteria from courage from wax worms, then the cultivated strains that can live on polyethylene as a single food source. Among them was a strain from AcinetobacterThat survived for more than a year in the laboratory environment and continued to break the polyethylene. This revealed how strong and continuous bowel plants in Wax WORM in their ability to destroy plastic.

However, in fact, when it comes to plastic consumption, the intestine bacteria do not work alone. When the researchers conducted a genetic analysis of insects, they found that the wax worms fed by plastic showed an increasing genetic expression regarding fat metabolism, and after feeding the plastic, wax worms showed signs of increased fat in the body. Armed with bowel bacteria, plastic identity, larvae can destroy plastic and convert them into the fat that they store in their bodies.

However, only a plastic diet does not lead to long -term worms. In their last experience, the team found that the wax worms that continued to eat polyethylene only died within a few days and lost a lot of weight. This showed that it is difficult for wax worms constantly treating polyethylene waste. But researchers believe that creating a food source to help eat them from polyethylene means that wax worms are able to maintain a healthy susceptibility to a plastic diet and improve the efficiency of decomposition.

In the future, the team suggests two strategies to use the Wax World’s ability to consume plastic materials. One of them is the production of wax worms that are fed on a diet for polyethylene, while providing them with the nutritional support they need to stay in the long term, then combine them into the circular economy, using the same insects to get rid of plastic waste. The other is to redesign the plastic degradation path for wax worms in the laboratory, using only microorganisms and enzymes, thus creating a way to get rid of plastic that does not need actual insects.

In the way of insect breeding, the secondary product will be large amounts of the biomass of insects-larvae that have no prize feed on plastic. These can turn into a very nutritious nutrition for the water farming industry, as in the research team data, insects can be a good source of protein for commercial fish.

This story was originally appeared on Wireless Japan It was translated from Japanese.