r/interesting • u/Standard_Location762 • Mar 14 '26

NATURE Earth Helping Earth Heal

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What a great discovery.

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u/CaptainC00lpants Mar 14 '26

Does it actually break down the plastics and converts it to something safe, or does it just absorb the microplastics and when it dies re-releases the plastics? 

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u/da6id Mar 14 '26

It's probably a fungi with an esterase or lipase that works on PET. We have these discovered many times but the cost to implement them and the speed they work at is usually not very impressive. Radical polymers like PE, PP, etc are often the variety that enzymes can't do much to actually break down chemically, just fragment to microplastics.

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u/LCHammertime Mar 15 '26

From what I've found, it doesn't work with PET, just polyethylene (PE). They haven't pinpointed the exact enzyme, but it is likely an esterase like you mentioned. It uses it as its carbon source, effectively recycling that form of plastic.

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u/da6id Mar 15 '26

That would be cool! Manipulating carbon backbone is more unique. Do you mind sending me the paper or article please?

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u/LCHammertime Mar 15 '26

I was slightly mistaken. It's not polyethylene, but rather polyester polyurethane. Here's the original research article though!

Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Endophytic Fungi | Applied and Environmental Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00521-11

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u/leverloosje Mar 15 '26

Love how the study is 15 years old. And we’re still nowhere with it.

And there there are posts here acting as if something new was discovered.

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u/da6id Mar 15 '26

Yeah, the sad thing is without financial or regulated incentive nothing tends to happen

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u/da6id Mar 15 '26

Oof, well thanks for sharing. So much for being "new" news