CIBTech Journal of Microbiology ISSN: 2319-3867 (Online) An Online International Journal Available at http://www.cibtech.org/cjm.htm 2015 Vol. 4 (1) January-March, pp.85-89/Sharma et al. Review Article © Copyright 2014 | Centre for Info Bio Technology (CIBTech) 85 MICROBIAL DEGRADATION OF PLASTIC- A BRIEF REVIEW Manika Sharma 1 , Pratibha Sharma 2 , Anima Sharma 3 and *Subhash Chandra 1 1 Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India 2 Department of Plant Pathology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 3 JECRC University, Jaipur Rajasthan, India *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT Synthetic polymers are widely used both in food or commercial industry. Plastic, one of its products is known to be expanding with changing lifestyles and increasing population. However, it causes deleterious effects on the environment due to its non degrading nature. Burning of this plastic waste and burying of the plastics releases harmful toxic material which is a major pollutant in environment. Also, there is an undesirable influence on the environment and it is known to be cause problems with waste deposition and utilization. The most commonly used non-degradable solid waste is polythene which is a linear hydrocarbon polymers consisting of long chains of the ethylene monomers. Thus, there is a tendency to substitute such polymers with polymers that undergo biodegradable processes. Biodegradable plastics are environment friendly; they have an expanding range of potential application and are driven by the growing use of plastics in packaging. This review describes biodegradation processes and its mechanisms, the microorganisms which involved the reactions of importance in the biodegradation of plastics. Keywords: Hydrocarbons, Biodegradation, Microbes, Environment INTRODUCTION The worldwide utility of polyethylene is expanding at a rate of 12% annum and approximately 140 million tones of synthetic polymers are produced worldwide each year. Plastics commodities are used in fishing nets, packaging, food industry and agricultural film (Vatseldutt and Anbuselvi, 2014). Plastics are characteristically inert and resistant to microbial attack and therefore they survive for years (Kavitha et al., 2014). These disposed plastics are a significant source of environmental pollution, potentially harming delicate life forms. There was a need to design biodegradable polymers which degrade upon disposal by the action of living organisms. These polymeric materials are potential sources of carbon and provide energy for microorganisms like bacteria and fungi that are heterotrophic in nature. Recently several microorganisms have been reported to produce degrading enzymes (Gnanavel et al., 2012).The microorganisms act either directly or indirectly which includes discoloration and deterioration of plastics and serving as carbon or nitrogen source for the growth of the microorganisms. Microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae) recognize polymers as a source of organic compounds (e.g., simple monosaccharides, amino acids, etc).Under the influence of intracellular and extracellular enzymes (endo- and exoenzymes) the polymer undergoes chemical reactions and the polymer degrades by the process of cutting of the polymer chain, oxidation, etc (Premraj and Mukesh, 2005). The result of this process is affected by a large number of different enzymes are increasingly smaller molecules, which enter into cellular metabolic processes (such as the Krebs cycle), generating energy in the form of water, carbon dioxide, biomass and other basic products involved in biotic decomposition. The byproducts formed after decomposition are non-toxic in nature and in living organisms. It is considered to be the safest method of breakdown which anticipated producing less toxic side products and having potentials of bio-geo chemical cycling of the substrate (Pramila et al., 2012). There are many biological species which have an orchestred mechanism to degrade large and complex hydrocarbons into simpler biomolecules or biodegradation. They are mainly of bacterial and fungal origin and were identified. They are mainly Gram positive and two Gram negative bacteria, and few species of fungal origin like Aspergillus. Oher species of microbes like Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus (Gram +ve), Moraxella, and Pseudomonas (Gram –ve) and two species of fungi (Aspergillus glaucus and