Advances in microbial degradation of plastics / 生物工程学报

Plastics are widely used in daily life. Due to poor management and disposal, about 80% of plastic wastes were buried in landfills and eventually became land and ocean waste, causing serious environmental pollution. Recycling plastics is a desirable approach, but not applicable for most of the plastic waste. Microbial degradation offers an environmentally friendly way to degrade the plastic wastes, and this review summarizes the potential microbes, enzymes, and the underpinning mechanisms for degrading six most commonly used plastics including polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyurethane. The challenges and future perspectives on microbial degradation of plastics were proposed.

How carnivorous fungi use three-celled constricting rings to trap nematodes

Predacious fungi form specialized hyphae structures to trap nematodes and other microscopic animals. Among the six kinds of trapping devices, the constricting ring is the only one that actively captures nematodes. When a nematode enters the aperture of the ring, which is formed by three cells, the cells rapidly triple their volume, close the aperture and hold the nematode in place. Hyphae then penetrate and consume the nematode. This paper reviews the data and hypotheses on conserving the evolution of constricting rings and their cytological and molecular mechanisms.