Polyethylene (PE) is high molecular weight synthetic polymer, very hydrofobic and hardly biodegradable. To increase polyethylene bio-degradability it is very important to find microorganisms that improve the PE hydrophilic level and/or reduce the length of its polymeric chain by oxidation. In this study, we isolated Cladosporium halotolerans, a fungal species, from the gastric system of Galleria mellonella larvae. Here, we show that C. halotolerans grows in the presence of PE polymer, it is able to interact with plastic material through its hyphae and secretes enzymes involved in PE degradation.
Keywords: Cladosporium halotolerans; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; bioremediation; enzymatic assay; high density polyethylene degradation; oxidoreductase.
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.