Harnessing the Power of Gut Microbiota Isolated from Zophobas morio for In Vitro Biodegradation of Expanded Polystyrene Foam

Overview

Plastic pollution is a major issue in our modern world, and expanded polystyrene foam is one of the most common plastics found within landfills and pollution in the environment. As there is no affordable method of recycling this plastic currently, a way th at may prove fruitful in the future is the method of biodegradation. Zophobas morio survives on a diet exclusively composed of polystyrene foam, suggesting that its gut microbes can break down the material into nutritionally valuable carbon compounds. This research is being done in order to examine the EPS biodegradation capabilities of gut microbes found within the gut of Z. morio. To do this, microbes will be isolated from the gut of Z. morio in both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. It is hypothesized that the anaerobic microbes found within the gut of Z. morio will have greater EPS biodegradation capabilities than microbes isolated in anaerobic conditions, due to the use of largely unstudied anaerobic digestion pathways. Microbes will be cultured in cond itions where the sole carbon source is EPS, and 16s rRNA sequencing will be used to identify isolated microbes. Growth rates of bacteria were recorded to assess their capability to biodegrade EPS. Aerobes and anaerobes had no statistically significant diff erence in growth rates between them. Comparable rates between the two ultimately shows the feasibility of anaerobic tanks as a feasible method of biodegrading EPS.

Competition history

• JSHS 2025 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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