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August 22, 2026Journal of Polymers and the EnvironmentOpen Access

Bacterial Community and Predicted Functional Gene Dynamics Relevant to the Potential Biodegradation of Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate (PBAT)

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Authors

SHSubin HwangSLSoo Yeon LeeKCKyung‐Suk Cho

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Overview

Experimental study reveals distinct bacterial communities and metabolic genes drive PBAT plastic breakdown across temperatures, suggesting tailored compost strategies optimize bioplastic waste...

Key Points

  • Investigate the effects of temperature (mesophilic vs. thermophilic) and compost inoculum source on bacterial community assembly and functional gene dynamics during polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) biodegradation.
  • Established PBAT enrichment cultures using two distinct compost inocula (K and I) under mesophilic (35 °C) and thermophilic (58 °C) conditions.
  • Assessed physical plastic degradation through surface structural analysis and profiled bacterial community dynamics during enrichment.
  • Predicted functional gene profiles and degradation-related pathways across treatments using PICRUSt2.
  • PBAT exhibited cracking, erosion, and structural collapse across all cultures, accompanied by reduced microbial diversity and the dominance of specialized taxa.
  • Pseudoxanthomonas dominated mesophilic cultures (72.6%–91.0%) and showed significant positive correlations with predicted ester bond hydrolysis orthologs (p < 0.05).
  • Thermophilic compost I cultures were dominated by Thermoflavifilum and Thermopolyspora, exhibiting higher predicted potential for adipate, terephthalic acid, and aromatic intermediate metabolism (K04101, K01055, K01607).

Cite This Study

Hwang et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a895ffeca7ade938187eea0https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-026-03942-z
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