Plastic pollution has become an increasingly severe global environmental issue, highlighting the urgent need for efficient and sustainable biodegradation strategies. In this study, an enriched gut microbial consortium, NE-01 derived from Tenebrio molitor, exhibited significant degradation activity toward polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Metagenomic sequencing revealed that Pseudomonas and Proteobacteria were the dominant taxa, maintaining high community diversity and providing a microbial foundation for the degradation of plastics and other complex organic compounds. Functional annotation and metabolic pathway analysis indicated that xenobiotic biodegradation and metabolism occupied a large proportion of the metabolic network, suggesting the consortium’s potential for degrading exogenous pollutants. Several key genes associated with the degradation of aromatic and halogenated compounds, such as benzoate, toluene, styrene, and bisphenol A, were identified. Metabolic reconstruction further suggested possible degradation pathways for PS, PE, PET, and the plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). This study preliminarily demonstrated that the T. molitor gut-derived microbial consortium harbors multiple plastic-degrading genes and provides a theoretical basis for developing green, microbe-based strategies for plastic degradation.
Qiu et al. (2026) studied this question.