3 Biotech (2021) 11:350

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-021-02884-8

REVIEW ARTICLE

Biotechnology‑based microbial degradation of plastic additives

Rob T. Lumio1 · Mario A. Tan2,3 · Hilbert D. Magpantay1 

Received: 6 November 2020 / Accepted: 6 June 2021 / Published online: 21 June 2021
© King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2021

Abstract
Plastic additives are agents responsible to the flame resistance, durability, microbial resistance, and flexibility of plastic
products. High demand for production and use of plastic additives is associated with environmental accumulation and
various health hazards. One of the suitable methods of depleting plastic additive in the environment is bioremediation as it
offers cost-efficiency, convenience, and sustainability. Microbial activity is one of the effective ways of detoxifying various
compounds as microorganisms can adapt in an environment with high prevalence of pollutants. The present review discusses
the use and abundance of these plastic additives, their health-related risks, the microorganisms capable of degrading them,
the proposed mechanism of biodegradation, and current innovations capable of improving the efficiency of bioremediation.

Keywords  Plastic additive biodegradation · Microbial remediation · Health risk of plastic additives

Introduction who depend on these water resources to biotoxicity (Hossain

In modern-day society, the environment has been the “sink”
of man-made wastes mostly comprised of plastics. The total
virgin plastics that have been produced up to date is 8300
million metric tons for which only 9% have been recycled or
reprocessed into secondary material, 12% have been inciner-
ated and 79% have accumulated in landfills and the natural
environment (Nelsen, et al. 2020; Geyer et al. 2017).
Landfilling is the simplest, cheapest, and most cost-
efficient way of waste disposal. In the U.S., 292.4 million
metric tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were generated
in 2018, wherein 35.4% were used for recycling and energy
recovery and 50% were left discarded for which 12.2%
were plastics (EPA, 2021). Plastic refuse, in the long term,
releases its decomposition by-products that infiltrates ground
water resources. Groundwater near landfill sites exhibit
higher concentration of organic pollutants, exposing those
* Hilbert D. Magpantay
hilbert.magpantay@dlsu.edu.ph
1
Chemistry Department, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft
Avenue, 0922 Manila, Philippines
2
The Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, Manila,
Philippines
3
College of Science and Research Center for the Natural
and Applied Sciences, University of Santo, Tomas, Manila,
Philippines
et al. 2014). In addition, insoluble pollutants accumulate in
the soil, harming soil-dwelling organisms.
Mismanaged plastic waste is also a global environmen-
tal problem. The estimated amount of mismanaged plastic
wastes that entered the ocean is 4.8–12.7 million metric tons
per year (Law et al., 2020; Jambeck et al. 2015). Aside from
microplastics that could influence biogeochemical cycles
(Guzzetti et al. 2018), plastic fragments impose a great dan-
ger to marine life (Koelmans et al. 2013). Intoxication of
microplastics by aquatic microorganisms may impose a risk
to higher organisms that tend to feed on them. Plastic frag-
ments include plasticizers, monomers and oligomers that are
gradually released to the environment (hereafter referred as
‘additives’). These additives displayed high toxicity even
at nanomolar concentration (Koch and Calafat 2009; Oehl-
mann et al. 2009; Teuten et al. 2009).
Several remediation technologies were offered to deplete
plastic additive pollution in the environment. Physical reme-
diation performs treatment by separating the pollutant from
the contaminated zone and concentrating it in a collection
reservoir (Fox 1996). Physical treatment exhibits high per-
centage collection of pollutants from the medium, however,
additional treatment is required to completely dispose and
destroy the collected contaminants. Chemical treatments,
as another approach in remediation, comprise techniques
that chemically transform organic pollutants into less harm-
ful substances. Examples are reduction with ultraviolet or

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Page 2 of 22
alkaline reagents, oxidation, and solidification/stabilization
(Fox 1996). Chemical treatments impose great potential for
remediation, however, several techniques exhibit limita-
tions. Oxidation promotes generation of carbon dioxide, a
ubiquitous air pollutant, and solidification/stabilization may
display issues about its long-term effectiveness (Fox 1996).
Overall, physical and chemical methods are both high-cost
technologies, tedious and capable of altering the natural eco-
system (Ghoreishi et al. 2017).
Among the remediation techniques, bioremediation,
specifically microbial remediation, gained the upper hand
in terms of sustainability, cost efficiency, and convenience.
Microbial remediation offers easy applicability in situ (Das
and Dash 2014). It explores the utilization of the ability of
microorganisms to adapt to a polluted environment, where
toxic concentration of an element or compound exists, and
use it for their own advantage such as but not limited to cell
growth and energy production (Boopathy 2000). Global use
of physico-chemical remediation technologies dwarfs that
of bioremediation, highlighting the underutilization of the
sustainable bioremediation process.
Several studies already raised concern on the leakage of
additives from plastic products. It is known that additives
that constitute a higher percentage by weight (w/w) in plas-
tic products exhibit more toxicity even at low concentration
than those at lower percentage. Despite the risk brought
by plastic additive pollution in the environment, there is a
lack of collective review regarding its bioremediation. This
review aims to describe the potential of microbial biore-
mediation in degrading plastic additives. Furthermore, we
anticipate future researches to focus on microorganisms in
the remediation of plastic additives. We limit this review
to plastic additives that are more than or equal to 1% w/w
of the plastic product. In addition, one major rule of thumb
for the migration of additives is that compounds with
molecular weight of more than 600 g/mol will have a low
tendency to migrate (Hansen et al. 2013). Thus, we cover
only additives that migrate easily from the plastic product
whose molecular weight do not exceed 600 g/mol. We pro-
vide here additional insights to complement a review paper
about microbial remediation of plastic additives (Sanchez
2021). We also emphasize in this review the extent of use,
environmental contamination, as well as the health impact
of these plastic additives. We also evaluated the feasibility of
several microorganisms in field applications. The structures
of the representative plastic additives covered in this review
is summarized in Fig. 1. Table 1 provides a summary of the
microorganism identified in recent years that are capable of
degrading plastic additives. Modification in bioremediation
technique, efficiency, and notable capabilities of the organ-
ism and discoveries of the study are listed on the remarks
section of Table 1.
13
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
Plasticizers
Plasticizers are chemical compounds added to plastics to
improve their flexibility which typically comprise 10% to
70% w/w of the plastic product (Hansen et al. 2013). In
2005, phthalates accounted for 88% of global consumption
of plasticizers; however, due to its health-related risks, it
was reduced to 65% in 2017 (IHS Markit 2018). The most
common phthalate plasticizer is di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
(DEHP) which contributes to 51% of the global consump-
tion of phthalates, followed by diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP)
and diisononyl phthalate (DINP) (Fig. 1) that constitutes
21% and 11% of phthalate demand, respectively (Peijnen-
burg 2008).
a. Di(2‑ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)
The annual production of DEHP globally is around 45–113
thousand tons and usually used as a plasticizer for polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) plastics (EPA, 2020). DEHP and its phthalic
acid esters intermediates are ubiquitous in the environment
and is mostly found in wastewater (Ren et al. 2017).
DEHP exposure causes pregnancy disorders and birth
defects. Findings suggest that prenatal exposure to DEHP
could lead to shorter pregnancy duration and might cause
low birth weight on infants (Latini et al. 2003). High plasma
concentration of DEHP was observed to be correlated with
endometriosis, a condition in which the lining of the womb
(endometrium) grows outside the uterus (Cobellis et al.
2003). DEHP disturbs estradiol production and suppresses
ovulation due to the lack of stimulation of luteinizing hor-
mone (LH) (Davis et al. 1994). Phthalates exposure is also
associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Testa et al.
2012).
Several bacterial strains isolated mainly from soil and
sediment samples have reported to degrade DEHP up to a
concentration as high as 1000 mg/L and at varying rates
ranging from a few hours to days (Table  1). The com-
plete degradation of DEHP proceeds via a series of ester-
ase, β-oxidation, decarboxylation and dioxygenase action
(Fig. 2).
Survival of a bacteria in tough environments is strongly
accounted to endospore formation, a capability exhibited
by most of those in genus Bacillus (Sonenshein et al. 2002).
Biodegradation of DEHP together with other alkyl phtha-
lates was observed using Bacillus subtilis No. 66 (Quan et al.
2005). The addition of 8% of culture medium of strain No.
66 in the soil successfully degraded 5 mM DEHP for up to
80% even in the presence of other organisms. B. subtilis
are well-known promoters of biofilm formation (Bais et al.
2004). Adsorption of phthalates on biofilm biomass is found
to be the main driving force for the removal of phthalates in
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350 Page 3 of 22  350

Fig. 1  Structure of phthalates (DEHP, DINP and DIDP), flame retardants (PBDE, TBBPA, and PCB) and stabilizers (BPA and TCS)

the aqueous phase which further resulted in increased bio-
degradation efficiency (Wen et al. 2016). B. subtilis also pro-
motes plant growth in polluted soil by acting as biocontrol
agent and stimulating nutrient availability in soil (Nagórska
et al. 2007).
Rhodococcus is a diverse genus of bacteria and at par
with Pseudomonas when it comes to degradation of a wide
variety of organic compounds (Larkin et al. 2005). Rhodo-
coccus sp. strain WJ4 can withstand and degrade 200 mg/L
of DEHP in liquid culture for up to 96.4% and 1000 mg/L of
DEHP in soil culture for up to 55% (Wang et al. 2015). Hav-
ing a low lysis efficiency, Rhodococcus is a perfect candidate
for degradation of DEHP residing in harsh environmental
sinks such as industrial effluents and landfills (Kauffmann
et al. 2004).
Agromyces sp. MT-O strain is also a promising agent for
complete degradation of DEHP, producing mono(2-ethyl-
hexyl) phthalate (MEHP) and phthalic acid (PA) which can
subsequently be mineralized (Fig. 2) (Zhao et al. 2016). In
a microbially induced mineralization, organic pollutants are

13


Table 1  Microbial species identified to degrade plastic additives

350 

Pollutant Species Efficiency Remarks References

DEHP Bacillus subtilis No. 66 Degraded 80% of 5 mM DEHP Hydrolysis of alkyl side chains of the PAEs Quan et al. (2005)
Appropriate for soil reclamation forming phthalic acid
Page 4 of 22

Rhodococcus sp. strain WJ4 Tolerated 200 mg/L of DEHP in liquid cul- Phthalic acid was then reduced Wang et al. (2015)
ture (96.4% degradation) Microorganisms that are capable to use the
Tolerated 1000 mg/L of DEHP in soil culture following enzymes have the potential to

13
(55% degradation) degrade PAEs into safer forms
Appropriate for harsh environmental sinks Hydrolase
Carboxylic acid reductase
Agromyces sp. MT-O Can tolerate DEHP at concentration range of Zhao et al. (2016)
Dehydrogenase
200 mg/L to 1000 mg/L
Carboxylic acid reductase played a vital
Degraded 82.1% of 100 mg/kg of DEHP in
role in terms of degradation of PAEs as it
non-sterilized soil for 12 days
reduces phthalic acid. The optimal pH for
Degraded 82.1% of 100 mg/kg of DEHP in
this enzyme is 7.5 (Finnigan et al. 2017)
non-sterilized soil for 12 days
Degradation pathway of Gordonia
Applicable in wide range of environmental
alkanivorans YC-RL2 showed direct
condition
decarboxylation of phthalic acid. A pos-
Gordonia alkanivorans YC-RL2 Can tolerate DEHP at concentration range of sible decarboxylase enzyme was used Nahurira et al. (2017)
100 mg/L to 800 mg/L by YC-RL2, converting phthalic acid to
 > 94% degradation efficiency benzoic acid
Applicable in a wide range of environmental
condition (temperature, pH, salinity)
Burkholderia pyrrocinia B1213 Degraded 98% of 500 mg/L DEHP Li et al. (2019)
Provided a clearer picture of degradation
pathway of DEHP
Microbial consortium (CM9) Degraded 94.85% and 100.00% of DEHP Bai et al. (2020)
Rhodococcus, Niabella, (1000 mg/L) within 24 h and 72 h, respec-
Sphingopyxis, tively
Achromobacter, degradation through de-esterification and
Tahibacter, and Xenophilus β-oxidation
Achromobacter sp. RX Used 99.3% of DEHP as sole carbon source Wang et al. (2021)
after 96 h
Masson pine seed powder (co-metabolic sub-
strate) and Tween-80 (solubilizing agent)
enhanced the biodegradation
Ochrobactrum anthropi L1-W Degraded 98.7% of DEHP (200 mg/L) in Nshimiyimana et al. (2020)
72 h
Also capable of degrading five other phtha-
lates
Rhodococcus jostii PEVJ9 Complete degradation of DEHP at minimal Annamalai et al. (2020)
level of 1–100 μg/L in the presence of self-
assembled monolayer-silver nanoparticles
on bacterial cells
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
 Table 1  (continued)
Pollutant Species Efficiency Remarks References
Enterobacter spp. YC-IL1 Degraded DEHP and hard to degrade butyl- Lamraoui et al. (2020)
benzyl phthalate (BBP) and dicyclohexyl
phthalate (DCHP) at 100%, 81.15%, and
50.69% efficiency, respectively, for 7 days
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350

DEHP degradation rate in artificially contam-

Cupriavidus oxalaticus E3
Paracoccus kondratievae
Fusarium culmorum
Burkholderia pyrrocinia B1213
DIDP, DINP and Ruegeria lacuscaerulensis, Thiomicrospira
Other Phtha- crunogena, Pseuodalteromonas tetrao-
lates donis, Alteromonas litorea, Alteromonas
addita, Ectothiorhodospira haloalkaliphile, Individual, synergistic, and competitive
Desulfuromonas acetoxidans, Thalassoba-
cillus devorans, Methylonatrum kenyense,
and Salegentibacter salinarum
Gordonia sp.
Consortium of saline soil bacterial
Serratia sp.,
Methylobacillus sp.,
Achromobacter sp.,
Pseudomonas sp.,
Stenotrophomonas sp.,
Methyloversatilis sp.,
Delftia sp. and Brevundimonas sp.
inated soil with 86% removed in 6 days
Degraded 87.4%–94.4% of DBP and Docking study showed that the conserved Chen et al. (2021)
82.5%–85.6% of DEHP at an initial amount catalytic triplet structure (Ser140, His284,
of each phthalate of 200 mg/L after 60 h and Asp254) in the active sites are essential
in catabolism of phthalate monoesters
(PMEs)
Simultaneous degradation of di-methyl Two esterases belonging to families IV and Xu et al. (2020)
phthalate (DMP), di-ethyl phthalate (DEP), VI were obtained
di-butyl phthalate (DBP), di-isobutyl phtha-
late (DIBP) and DEHP, with DMP and
DEP as the preferred substrates
Slow DEHP degradation (200 mg/L) with ­t1/2
if 84.5 h
NR Esterase activity is induced in high concen- González-Márquez et al. (2020)
tration of DEHP (1500 mg/L)
Identified five esterase isoforms (26.4, 31.7,
43, 73.6, and 125 kDa)
Degraded 98% of 500 mg/L DEHP Li et al. (2019)
Provided a clearer picture of degradation
pathway of DEHP
Most abundant species in a DINP and DIDP Chen et al. (2017)
polluted sediments and potential phthalate
degrading species
effects on degradation should be deeply
observed
Degraded 80% of 500 mg/L phthalic esters Takao et al. (2002)
for 30 h
Degraded 99% of DINP (500 mg/L) in 168 h, de-esterification and β-oxidation pathway Pereyra-Camacho et al. (2021)
­t1/2 of 12.76 h

13
Page 5 of 22  350

Table 1  (continued)
Pollutant Species
Gordonia sp.
Rhodococcus ruber YC-YT1
13
PCB Aquamicrobium defluvii DSM11603 Y15403
Rhodococcus erythropolis LG12 EU852376
Dehalococcoides mccartyi CG-1, CG-4 &
CG-5
Paraburkholderia xenovarans LB400
Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105
Pseudomonas extremaustralis ADA-5
Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105
Trametes sanguinea LBM 023
Efficiency
Degraded 91.25% of DOP with different
initial concentrations (100–2000 mg/L)
Entirely degraded 100 mg/L of phthalate
mixture in 5 days
Can degrade long-chained and branched
phthalic esters
Can be carried out in an electrolytic environ-
ment
Depleted 100% of 0.5 mM 4-chlorobiphenyl
after 4 days
Depleted 53% of 0.5 mM 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexa-
chlorobiphenyl
No depletion of 2,2′,3,4′,5,5′,6-heptachloro-
biphenyl
Degradation efficiency depends on the num-
ber of chlorine substituents
Can tolerate high salt concentration
Degradation products are chlorine sub-
stituted, indicating its insufficiency for
remediation
Enriched by serial transfer using tetrachlo-
roethene
PCBs’ chlorine removal of 23.7, 27.7, and
83.6 µM, respectively
Capable of biotransforming 76% of the PCB
mixture
Degraded 65.50 ± 8.09% of PCBs in 21 days
Toxicity was reduced by 46.47%
Strain was able to use 9.75% of available
decachlorobiphenyl (DCB) as its sole
carbon source
Was able to bioaccumulate 19.98% of the
DCB biomass
Biodegradation efficiency of 95.4% for
single-culture experiments using Pleurotus
pulmonarius LBM 105
Biodegradation efficiency of 55.4% for
experiments using a co-culture of Pleurotus has much a higher degradation efficiency
pulmonarius LBM 105 and Trametes san-
guinea LBM023
350 
Remarks References
Wang et al. (2020)
Page 6 of 22
Yanchun et al. (2017)
Growth is evident in single to six chlorine Chang et al. (2013)
substituents
The strain could also degrade other aromatic
substrates, suggesting its capability is not
only limited to dechlorination but also
hydrolysis of the substrates
Metabolites should be nonchlorinated to con- Chang et al. (2013)
clude that the degradation is cost-effective
Tetrachloroethene is a good preliminary Wang et al. (2014)
substrate before introducing the strain in
the PCB mixture
Biodegradation was limited to lightly chlo- Bako et al. (2021)
rinated PCBs
Proteomic analysis of the the Pleurotus Chelaliche et al. (2021)
pulmonarius LBM 105 revealed that oxida-
tive metabolism was highly involved in the
degradation of the PCBs
Bacterial membrane lipids were found to be Lopez et al. (2021)
altered in the presence of DCB
Comparative analysis of the degradation Benitez et al (2021)
efficiency of single and co-culture experi-
ments revealed that using a single culture
of Pleurotus pulmonarius LBM 105 has
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
 Table 1  (continued)
Pollutant Species Efficiency Remarks References
Anabaena PD-1 Aroclor 1254 biodegradation rate of 85% for Highly efficient against meta-chlorine Zhang et al. (2015)
25 days substituted biphenyls since the halide is an
Could degrade dioxin-like PCBs electron withdrawing group
Further understanding of degradation mecha-
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350

TBBP A Dehalococcoides mccartyi CBDB1
Comamonas sp. JXS-2–02
Arthrobacter sp. YC-RL1
Bacillus brevis
Bacillus pumilus
Pycnoporus sanguineus
PBDE Pseudomonas spp.
Enterococcus casseliflavus
Phanerochaete chrysosporium
Phlebia lindtneri JN45
nism is required
Full debromination of TBBPA
Generated BPA as metabolite
Cell growth was inhibited due to TBBPA
toxicity
Additional remediation is required for the
depletion of BPA
Newly isolated strain was able to degrade
86% of TBBPA after 10 days
Substrate analysis confirmed successful bio-
transformation of TBBPA concentrations
ranging 0.2–300 mg/L
Biougmentation of an augmented sludge
reactor and membrane bioreactor using
both bacterial strains showed an 83%
removal rate of TBBPA in wastewater
Growth was inhibited due to presence of Cr
(VI) in the medium
Higher concentration of TBBPA enhanced
the removal of both TBBPA and Cr (VI)
Biostimulation was observed in depletion of
less-brominated congeners when electron
donors were added
Could deplete BDE-209 for up to 11% in
90 days
Degraded 10% to 50% BDE-209 (1 mg/L)
after 7 days incubation
Degraded 55% to 66% BDE-47 (0.5 mg/L)
with ­Cd2+ concentration of 0 to 10 mg/L
Degraded 77.3% BDE-209 (20 mg/L) in
30 days
Adding glucose showed marked increase in
degradation
Yang et al. (2015)
Strain was the first to be isolated under Peng et al. (2013)
anaerobic conditions
Strain was able to efficiently remediate other Ren et al. (2016)
bisphenols such as BPA (0.2–600 mg/L)
and BPF (0.2–600 mg/L)
High removal efficiency can be traced to both Islam et al. (2018)
biosorption and biodegradation activity
Cr (VI) normally exists in TBBPA-polluted Feng et al. (2017)
environment as both were typically used
together in electronic devices
Uses biostimulation to attract microorganism Qiu et al. (2012)
that has the potential to degrade PBDE
The high cell surface hydrophobicity of Tang et al. (2016)
the bacterial cell wall helps in absorbing
BDE-209
2D gel electrophoresis identified 50 dif-
ferentially expressed proteins in treated vs
untreated samples
Extracellular enzyme may be responsible for Cao et al. (2017)
the process
BDE-47 is degraded by hydroxylation
Proposed mechanism involves debromina- Xu and Wang (2014)
tion, hydroxylation, and ring opening
reactions

13
Page 7 of 22  350


Table 1  (continued)
350 

Pollutant Species Efficiency Remarks References

Pseudomonas putida Degradation rate constants were 2–3 times The addition of glucose/biphenyl provides Lv et al. (2016)
larger when glucose was added to the additional carbon source for bacteria,
PBDE system helping them not to fully rely on BDE as it
Page 8 of 22

Glucose does not alter the degradation path- may be difficult for them to survive in such
way of PBDE environment if deficient in nutrient
Degradation rates were 1–2 folds higher

13
when biphenyl was added to the PBDE
system
Lateral deoxygenation took place when
biphenyl was added to the PBDE system,
resulting to the formation of toxic para-OH
PBDE
BPA Microbial consortia Degradation half-life is 13.1, 10.8, and 10.2 h Eio et al. (2014)
for concentrations of 10, 20 and 50 mg/L
(Dark)
Metabolites were not hazardous
Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAb1 Promote cell growth rate of 0.841 h-1, Vijayalakshmi et al. (2018)
Metabolites were phenol, acetophenone, and
hydroquinone and p-hydroxybenzoic acid
Pseudomonas putida YC-AE1 Resistant to BPA for up to 1000 mg/L Eltoukhy et al. (2020)
Completely degrade 500 mg/L BPA within
72 h
Microbial community Sphingonomas spp. was able to degrade The BPA-degradation pathway involved the Yu et al. (2019)
Sphingonomas spp. Sph-1 Sphingonomas 50 mg/L BPA cross-feeding of BPA by the Sphingonomas
spp. Sph-2, Pseudomonas sp. and Pusillimonas sp. spp with BPA intermediates by Pseu-
residing on the similar community were domonas sp. and Pusillimonas sp.
observed as BPA non-degraders, however,
degraded the by-products of BPA by Sphin-
gonomas spp.
Shewanella haliotis MH137742 Degraded 75 mg/L of BPA de Santana et al. (2019)
Triclosan Alpha-proteobacteria Bacterium was known to exist predominantly Guo et al. (2016)
in RL
TCS was observed to deplete from 30 µg/g
to 1.84 µg/g after 56 days using di-RL
homologues
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
 Table 1  (continued)
Pollutant Species Efficiency Remarks References
Sphingobium Glutathione transferase-dependent biodeg- High accuracy and convenience are observed Dai et al. (2021)
radation in DNA-SIP as thert do not require redun-
Sphingobium was detected in the wastewater dant purifications. Potential degrading-
sample as a major TCS-degrading bacte- bacteria could be easily detected by this
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350

rium by using DNA-SIP (stable isotope technology

probing)
The consortia shows that it contributes to
the 18.54% metabolism of TCS; the rest is
accounted to the nitrification process of the
wastewater treatment system
Amaricoccus as the most abundant micorbe With the aid of the following surfactants: Jia et al. (2020)
rhamnolipid (RL), sophorolipid (SL) and
sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS),
the biodegradation of TCS, with the influ-
ence of nitrification, was enhanced by 1.25,
1.23, and 1.14 times
Georgenia, Biodegradation accounts for 49–68% of TCS Novel technology showing sulfur-driven TCS Zhang et al. (2021)
Soehngenia, removal. Synergistic with sorption which removal
Comamonas, contributed 32–51% of TCS removal
Pseudomonas,
Desulfovibrio, and Sulfurospirillum
Dehalococcoides mccartyi CG1 Slow dichlorination of TCS of 0.062 µM/day Zhao et al. (2020)
Addition of electron acceptors increased the
rate to 0.245 µM/day
Citrobacter freundii KS2003 Able to degrade 99.57 ± 0.6% of 250 mg/L After o-cleavage, subsequent biodegradation Kumari et al. (2021)
of TCS by KS2003 wherein catechol 1,2-dioxyge-
nase acted as an important enzyme

NR Not reported

13
Page 9 of 22  350
350 
Page 10 of 22
Fig. 2  Proposed complete degradation pathway of DEHP using enzymes from various microbial organisms (Li et al. 2019; Nahurira et al. 2017;
Quan et al. 2005; Zhao et al. 2016)
transformed to carbonate precipitate which is less toxic and
a more stable compound. The DEHP concentration in the
bioaugmentation set-up in this study was limited to 100 mg
DEHP per kg of soil to avoid the inhibition of microbial
biomass, basal respiration, and catalase activity (Zhao et al.
2016). In 12 days, 82.1% and 73.9% of DEHP was removed
in non-sterilized soil and sterilized soil, respectively. This
implies that MT-O strain may interact with other micro-
organisms that helps enhance DEHP degradation. When
inoculated in a mineral salt media with DEHP as sole car-
bon source, the strain almost completely degraded 200 mg/L
of DEHP and can withstand up to 1000 mg/L of DEHP
although the degradation rate was lower at high DEHP con-
centration. This means that bioremediation would be less
efficient in extremely DEHP-polluted sites.
Gordonia alkanivorans YC-RL2, a bacterial strain iso-
lated from petroleum-contaminated soil and can tolerate
high concentrations of DEHP ranging from 100 mg/L to
800 mg/L (Nahurira et al. 2017). Degradation rate of this
strain exceeds 94% and metabolites can be further uti-
lized for subsequent cell growth (Fig. 2). Factors affecting
bioremediation are temperature, electron acceptors/donors,
nutrients, pH, metabolites, energy sources, and temperature
(Boopathy 2000). Interestingly, YC-RL2 displays versatil-
ity in carrying out the degradation of DEHP in soil, hav-
ing a temperature range of 10 °C–50 °C, pH condition of
6.0–11.0, and salinity level of 0–12% w/v of NaCl (Nahurira
et al. 2017).
Burkholderia pyrrocinia B1213, isolated from fertile
soil near the vegetable oil factory in China (Li et al. 2018),
13
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
can degrade 98% of 500 mg/L of DEHP to produce MEHP,
mono-butyl phthalate (MBP), PA and 4-oxo-hexanoic acid
as metabolites (Li et al. 2019). Detection of these metabo-
lites provides a clearer picture of the biodegradation path-
way. β-oxidation of MEHP was responsible for the forma-
tion of MBP where the alkyl chain length was reduced from
8 to 4. PCA was not detected as a metabolite, suggesting
that PCA was rapidly converted to 3-oxohexanedoic acid to
4-oxo-hexanoic acid before the complete mineralization in
the cell (Fig. 2).
b. Diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), Diisononyl phthalate
(DINP) and other phthalates
DIDP is a mixture of isomers of 10-carbon branched dialkyl
chain phthalates (CAS registry numbers 68515–49-1 (C-10
rich) and 26,761–40-0) and one of the leading phthalate
plasticizers which is commonly used as an additive in PVC.
Several studies observed that DIDP are less toxic than the
other phthalate counterparts. Evaluation of DIDP showed
that it does not exhibit mutagenicity (Mckee et al. 2000),
cytotoxicity (Ghisari and Bonefeld-Jorgensen 2009), and
teratogenicity (Waterman et al. 1999). However, significant
health threats were observed when DIDP is mixed with other
phthalate compounds. Phthalate mixtures, despite the weak
individual phthalate compound toxicity is, therefore, a seri-
ous environmental problem. Phthalate mixture containing
DIDP interferes with the thyroid hormone system (Ghisari
and Bonefeld-Jorgensen 2009). In vivo evaluation of DIDP
in rats showed that it enhanced the activity of sodium/iodide
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350 Page 11 of 22  350
symporter–a protein responsible for the active transport if
iodide in the thyroid (Breous et al. 2005). Mixtures of phtha-
lates that include DIDP also exhibited estrogenic endocrine
disrupting activities (Chen et al. 2014; Ghisari and Bone-
feld-Jorgensen 2009).
Similar to DIDP, DINP is a complex mixture of DINP iso-
mers (CAS registry number of 68,515–48-0 and 28,553–12-
0) commonly used as plasticizer in PVC (EPA 2019). Com-
pared to DIDP, several literature studies have reported its
adverse health effect as an individual phthalate. Although
it does not exhibit mutagenicity (Mckee et al. 2000) and
developmental toxicity (Waterman et al. 1999), DINP can
cause rodent liver tumor through peroxisome proliferation
(Kaufmann et al. 2002; Reisenbichler and Eckl 1993). DINP
could aggravate atopic dermatitis in vivo (Koike et al. 2010)
and its phthalate mixture exhibit enhanced estrogenic activ-
ity (Chen et al. 2014). Furthermore, phthalate mixture con-
taining DINP interferes with the thyroid hormone system
(Ghisari and Bonefeld-Jorgensen 2009).
DIDP and DINP are less prevalent than DEHP; thus,
only a few studies have explored the remediation of these
phthalates. Most studies have focused on the remediation of
phthalate mixture rather than individual phthalate substance.
Bioremediation in a study using indigenous soil microor-
ganisms done in a slurry phase reactor exhibited more than
70% efficiency of phthalate removal (Ferreira and Morita
2012). The condition was monitored at pH and temperature
range of 7.8 to 8.4 and 17 °C to 25 °C, respectively. This
was also applied ex situ using soil contaminated with wastes
from the plasticizer industry. The biodegradation followed
first-order kinetics with efficiency of 61% pollutant removal
wherein DIDP was also reduced from 1800 (± 193) mg/L to
141 (± 3) mg/L after 120 days.
Bacteria strains from an ocean dredge material disposal
site were found to potentially degrade phthalates (Chen et al.
2017). The middle part of the site was polluted with 2849
(± 2588) ng/g of total phthalic esters, wherein the concen-
tration of DINP is 381 (± 293) ng/g and for DIDP is 91.2
(± 73.6) ng/g. The most abundant bacterial species in this
site are Ruegeria lacuscaerulensis (7.87%), Thiomicro-
spira crunogena (5.45%), Pseudoalteromonas tetraodonis
(3.07%), Alteromonas litorea (2.69%), Alteromonas addita
(2.31%), Ectothiorhodospira haloalkaliphile (1.62%), Desul-
furomonas acetoxidans (1.62%), Thalassobacillus devorans
(1.56%), Methylonatrum kenyense (1.15%), and Salegenti-
bacter salinarum (1.09%). This study provided a good pre-
liminary screening of the potential species that are capable
of efficiently degrading phthalate esters, DIDP and DINP.
However, their individual microbial activity, the synergy
within the consortia, and the competitive effects in a biofilm
must be thoroughly observed and analyzed.
A species belonging to the genus Gordonia was capa-
ble of scavenging phthalates at more than 80% of 500 mg/L
phthalic ester mixture for 30 h (Takao et al. 2002). The strain
Gordonia sp. Lff was able to degrade more than 91.25%
of di-n-octyl phthalate (DOP) with different initial concen-
trations (100–2000 mg/L) under optimal condition (Wang
et al. 2020). This Lff strain showed little influence on the soil
bacterial community making it a strong candidate for DOP
remediation in various environments.
Rhodococcus ruber YC-YT1 (Yanchun et al. 2017) was
observed to tolerate and degrade 85% of 100 mg/L DEHP in
an inorganic salt medium. In addition, it was able to entirely
sequester 100 mg/L DEHP, dipropyl phthalate and butyl ben-
zyl phthalate in an organic salt for 5 days. Hence, the capa-
bility of strain YC-YT1 to strongly degrade long-chained
and branched phthalic esters suggests its potential to degrade
various phthalates such as DIDP and DINP. Moreover, the
degradation was carried out in an electrolytic environment
implying its applicability to remediate phthalate-polluted
wastewater and saltwater resources. Similar to DEHP, DIDP
and DINP undergo degradation thru the de-esterification and
β-oxidation pathway (Pereyra-Camacho et al. 2021).
Flame retardants
Flame retardants are common additives constituting
12%–18% w/w of the plastic product (Hansen et al. 2013).
Flame retardants extinguish the flame propagation of the
plastic product and are categorized into four groups: halo-
genated flame retardants, phosphorus-based flame retard-
ants, melamine flame retardants, and inorganic hydroxide
flame retardants (Levchik 2007). Halogenated flame retard-
ants dominate the global consumption of flame retardants
(Murphy 2001) and can be subcategorized either as chlo-
rine-containing and bromine-containing flame retardants.
The main commercial brominated fire retardants are tetra-
bromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and polybrominated diphenyl
ethers (PBDE) (Segev et al. 2009). Polychlorinated biphe-
nyls (PCB) have structural and behavioral similarity with
PBDEs (Birnbaum and Bergman 2010).
a. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
PCBs were used as flame retardants in plastic products, in
power supplies such as capacitors and transformers, in pes-
ticides and in adhesives. Known to be a persistent organic
pollutant, it is no longer produced and used in most coun-
tries. However, pollution occurs due to the redistribution of
PCB that is already present in the soil and water (EPA 2000).
Aside from being a persistent substance in the environment,
it also confers various health risks. Dopamine levels tend to
decrease after exposure to PCB (Seegal et al. 1986). Prenatal
exposure could also delay embryonic development (Linde-
nau et al. 1994). Furthermore, PCBs are genotoxic and have
13
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Page 12 of 22
Fig. 3  Degradation end-products of 4-chlorobiphenyl by Rhodococcus erythropolis LG12 EU852376 identified by gas chromatography (GC)
(Chang et al. 2013). Reaction intermediates were not analyzed in this study
a potential to promote hepatocellular carcinoma (Ludewig
and Robertson 2013).
Aquamicrobium defluvii DSM11603 Y15403 isolated
from a sewage treatment plant was able to degrade PCB
having one to six chlorine substituents (Chang et al. 2013).
The culture grew for about 30–70 µg/ml and depleted 100%
of 0.5  mM 4-chlorobiphenyl after 4  days. However, the
increase in the number of chlorine substituents in PCB like
in 0.5 mM 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl resulted in a
decrease to 53% depletion efficiency. In addition, no deple-
tion of 2,2′,3,4′,5,5′,6-heptachlorobiphenyl was observed in
this isolate. In the same study, Rhodococcus erythropolis
LG12 EU852376 was isolated in the same sewage treatment
plant and displayed biphenyl degradation and salt tolerance.
Hence, the isolate could work even in soils with high NaCl
concentration and nitrate concentration. However, analysis
of the metabolites from the degradation of 4-chlorbipenyl
showed the presence of chlorinated compounds (Fig. 3).
Since chlorinated organic compounds are still harmful in
the environment (Henschler 1994), further dechlorination
is needed. To produce environmentally safe by-products,
introduction of a dehalogenating or genetically engineered
bacteria that have the enzyme capable of halogen cleavage
from the dead-end metabolites and by-product is thereby
warranted.
Dehalococcoides is a promising genus of bacteria towards
dechlorination of PCBs; however, the challenge in PCB
remediation is the acquisition of enriched dechlorinators
strains. Dehalococcoides sp. CBDB-1 is one of the few
bacterial strains that shows dechlorination activity in PCB;
however, the enrichment of the dechlorinating bacteria in
13
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
commercial PCBs (such as Aroclor 1260) was unsuccess-
ful (Adrian et al. 2009). To resolve this, the less stable tet-
rachloroethene was used as an alternative electron accep-
tor instead of PCB in order to enrich the Dehalococcoides
in three isolated PCB-degrading microbial communities,
CG-1, CG-4, and CG-5. The Dehalococcoides in CG-1,
CG-4, and CG-5 was further enriched to 85.2%, 44.2%, and
86.3%, respectively (Wang et al. 2014). Tetrachloroethene
was degraded and chlorine substituents were progressively
cleaved to trichloroethene then to dichloroethane. 10 serial
transfers of the cultures acquired > 90% of the Dehalococ-
coides. This was confirmed after transcriptomic analyses and
quantitative polymerase chain reaction which showed that
the gene involved in tetrachloroethene and PCB dechlorina-
tion was similar. PCB dechlorination capability was retained
after confirming that the three cultures were able to support
growth in Arochlor 1260 containing media. After 150 days,
growth of CG-1, CG-4, and CG-5 cultures were promoted
by 8.2-, 12.0-, and 16.2-fold, respectively, with chlorine
removal of 23.7, 27.7, and 83.6 µM.
Anabaena PD-1 isolated from PCB-contaminated paddy
soils in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China was capable of degrad-
ing Aroclor 1254 (mixture of PCB having 54% by weight
of chlorine) with biodegradation rate of 85% for 25 days
(Zhang et al. 2015). In addition, it also showed a high deg-
radation percentage of dioxin-like PCBs. However, analy-
sis of the degradation products was not done in this study.
Moreover, no gene and enzyme identification were done to
fully understand the mechanism of remediation.
Acidovorax sp. KKS102 can degrade PCB; how-
ever, the by-products are still toxic since they are still
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350 Page 13 of 22  350
Fig. 4  Intermediates identified
in the debromination of TBBPA
by Dehalococcoides mccartyi
CBDB1 (redrawn from Yang
et al. 2015) using ultra perfor-
mance liquid chromatography—
tandem mass spectrometer
(UPLC-MS). The degradation
is proposed to be accomplished
by the reductive dehydrogenases
with broad substrate specificity
chlorine-containing. This problem has been resolved using
a recombinant glutathione S-transferase (GST) from the
homolog of the gene BphK (biphenyl upper pathway K)
in Acidovorax sp. KKS102 (Shehu and Alias 2019). The
C10F and A180P mutated recombinant proteins showed an
increase in GST dichlorination activity relative to the wild-
type protein.
b. Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA)
TBBPA is a widely used flame retardant mainly in elec-
tronic devices and electronic circuit boards. In addition to
the effectivity of brominated compounds in terms of fire
extinguishing, TBBPA is not subjected to any regulatory
restriction and accounts for the largest production of flame
retardants, amounting to around 170,000 tons of the global
demand (BSEF 2012; Makinen et al. 2009). Accumula-
tion of TBBPA in the environment displays a great threat
to a wide variety of organisms. Accumulation of TBBPA
in plants induces oxidative stress, in which the toxic dose
level depends on the antioxidative capacity of the plant (Sun
et al. 2008). It can suppress thyroid hormone triiodothyro-
nine ­(T3) which was observed in Rana rugosa tadpole’s tail
shortening (Kitamura et al. 2005; Sun et al. 2009). Thus,
TBBPA could affect the metamorphosis of amphibians.
Moreover, TBBPA in Wistar rats increased T3 levels and
decreased the T4 levels, suggesting its adverse effect on
reproduction and development (Van der Ven et al. 2008).
Egg production of zebrafish (Danio rerio) tends to decrease
when exposed to at least 0.047 µM of TBBPA (Kuiper et al.
2007). Cytotoxic evaluation of TBBPA shows its capability
to induce cell death in TM4 Sertoli cells which is important
for sperm development (Ogunbayo et al. 2008). TBBPA is
an immunotoxin and significantly inhibits the expression of
interleukin-2 receptor a chain (CD25), a protein essential
for proliferation of activated T cells (Pullen et al. 2003).
TBBPA exhibits nephrotoxicity at high doses in newly born
rats (Fukuda et al. 2004). In vivo study of TBBPA in rats
show significant changes of glutathione, malondialdehyde,
and 5-aminolevulinate dehydratase, suggesting that TBBPA
is hepatotoxic (Szymańska et al. 1999).
As mentioned in PCB degradation, Dehalococcoides
mccartyi bacteria strains are known for its capability to
degrade halogenated compounds. Strain CBDB1 was able
to fully debrominate TBBPA to form BPA via reduction/
dehalogenation (Fig. 4); however, no cell growth in the spent
media was observed during the transformation (Yang et al.
2015). This growth inhibition may be due to the high lipo-
philicity of TBBPA that penetrates the cell membrane of the
bacteria (Kefeni et al. 2011). Furthermore, the by-product
BPA is an endocrine disrupting chemical; thus, it is neces-
sary that this metabolite be further degraded.
TBBPA and Cr (VI) coexist with each other in electronic
wastes. Chromium (VI) is a toxic metallic substance added
to electronic devices to prevent rust (Salnikow and Zhit-
kovich 2008). Their coexistence is an important factor to
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Page 14 of 22
the bioremediation of TBBPA. Cr (VI) affects the TBBPA
degradation capability of Pycnoporus sanguineus as Cr (VI)
inhibits the fungal growth, intracellular proteins synthesis,
cell viability, and ATP enzyme activity (Feng et al. 2017).
However, when TBBPA exists at higher concentration, it
enhances the removal of both TBBPA and Cr (VI) due to
improved intracellular proteins synthesis and ATP enzyme
activity.
c. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)
PBDEs are structurally similar to PCB and a common addi-
tive used to retard fire in a wide variety of consumer and
electronic products (Siddiqi and Clinic 2003). Landfill,
being the most significant reservoir of electronic equip-
ment waste, collects 1747 million metric tons of PBDE,
whereas the incineration releases 44.9 kg/year of decaBDE
(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). The Stock-
holm convention bans the use of tetraBDE, heptaBDE, and
decaBDE, leading several companies to resort to the use of
alternative flame retardant such as TBBPA (Fromme et al.
2016). Despite the restriction, PBDEs are still prevalent in
the environment and is one of the common organic pollut-
ants present in soil.
PBDEs can disrupt the thyroid hormone. Exposure to
BDE-28, -47, -99, -100, and -153 during prenatal stage may
cause a 27.6% decrease of thyroid-stimulating hormones
to children under 3 years old (Vuong et al. 2018). Prenatal
exposure to BDE-99, -47, -100, and -153 was also associated
with an increase of total thyroxine level in cord blood (Ding
et al. 2017). Electronic waste recycling workers who are
directly exposed to PBDE bioaccumulation exhibit altered
thyroid hormone-regulated gene expression due to the inter-
ference of PBDE thyroid hormone signaling effects (Zheng
et al. 2017). BDE -17, -100, -47, and -49 was also correlated
with domestic feline hyperthyroidism (Walter et al. 2017).
Biostimulation is a conventional technique in bioreme-
diation wherein an electron acceptor is added to stimulate
microbial activity. Enrichment of microbial consortia by five
different electron donors (methanol, ethanol, pyruvate, lac-
tate, and acetate) showed no significant increase to dehalo-
genation of deca-BDE (Qiu et al. 2012). This indicates that
generation of bromide ion was not obviously affected by
the addition of exogenous electron donors. Pseudomonas
spp. identified as the predominant species in this consor-
tium was able to reduce BDE-209 by 11% after 90-day
incubation (Qiu et al. 2012). However, degradation of less
brominated congeners was stimulated when electron accep-
tors were added although lactate and pyruvate inhibited the
degradation of BDE-209. Thus, the microbial consortium is
recommended to the remediation of PBDE containing nine
bromine substituent or less, with an addition of electron
acceptors for better results.
13
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
Pseudomonas putida was employed for the bioremedia-
tion of PBDE and the effect of glucose and biphenyl as an
additional carbon source on the efficiency of aerobic come-
tabolism was investigated (Lv et al. 2016). Degradation
rate constants of four PBDE congeners (BDE47, BDE15,
BDE3, and DE) were improved by 2–3 times when glucose
was added. On the other hand, cometabolism of the four
PBDE congeners with biphenyl improved its degradation
rate by 1–2 folds. The cometabolism with glucose showed
that PBDE degradation will only start when a huge amount
of glucose is consumed. This implies that the P. putida was
enriched, and the increase of the cell population results in
the faster degradation of PBDE. Moreover, the glucose-
PBDE system and single system share a similar pathway.
On the other hand, the addition of biphenyl provided a larger
amount of carbon source, this helped to improve cell popula-
tion. It is important to identify the new metabolic pathway
when cometabolism is performed to recognize potentially
toxic metabolites that are being generated in the process.
As illustrated on Fig. 5, PDBE cometabolism with biphenyl
undergoes dioxygenation processes, resulting in two dihy-
droxylated by-products. The para-OH PBDE by-product
is one of the most toxic metabolites as it strongly disrupts
nuclear hormone receptor activity (Kojima et al. 2009; Qiu
et al. 2009).
Bisphenol‑A as stabilizers
Stabilizers are additives that are added to the plastic products
to hinder their degradation. There are two types of stabiliz-
ers: UV and heat stabilizers. UV stabilizers inhibit oxidative
degradation of plastic products upon exposure to ultraviolet
light while heat stabilizers prevent oxidation of plastic when
exposed to heat, mechanical stress and loading (Hahladakis
et al. 2018; Murphy 2001). Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an organic
pollutant that is commonly used as stabilizer which com-
prises 0.05%–3% w/w of the plastic product (Brevik and
Burgess 2012; Hansen et al. 2013).
Aside from being a stabilizer, BPA is a highly produced
chemical commonly used as a monomer for polycarbonate
plastic and also used for epoxy resins (American Chemistry
Council 2012; Møller et al. 2012). As a result, BPA has
become ubiquitous in nature which mostly pollutes water
resources (Michałowicz 2014; Staples et al. 1998).
BPA, due to structural similarity with estrogen, imposes
the risk for endocrine disruption. Several studies showcase
the capability of BPA to contribute to some endocrine-
related diseases. BPA is associated with diabetes mellitus
(Shankar and Teppala 2011), polycystic ovarian syndrome
(Takeuchi et al. 2004), and obesity (Carwile and Michels
2011; Takeuchi et  al. 2004). BPA may also encourage
developmental reprogramming which may increase cancer
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350 Page 15 of 22  350
Fig. 5  Proposed degradation pathway for the cometabolism of glu-
cose and biphenyl with PBDE by Pseudomonas putida (redrawn Lv
et al. 2016). Metabolites during biodegradation of PBDE was identi-
susceptibility (Keri et al. 2007; Walker and Ho 2012). In
utero exposure to BPA increases the enhancer of Zeste
Homolog 2, a protein known as a promoter of viral car-
cinogenesis in the breast (Doherty et al. 2010; Sanna et al.
2018). Low-dose exposure to BPA during prenatal stage can
alter gene expression, specifically the sex-specific effects
of hypothalamic estrogen receptors α and β expression and
hippocampal and hypothalamic oxytocin expression (Aram-
bula et al. 2016). BPA can also alter steroidogenic enzymes,
disturbing ovarian steroidogenesis resulting in complications
during pregnancy (Zhou et al. 2008).
BPA conversion into bacterial biomass and metabolites
diplaying low to no estrogenic activity can be accomplished
by a bacterial consortia through catabolic pathways (Eio
et al. 2014). The consortia which were isolated from an
activated sludge in a wastewater treatment plant were able
to deplete BPA for up to 50 mg/L. Light is also observed
as a major factor for the degradation as it inhibits the pro-
cess. In the absence of light, the degradation half-life is 13.1,
10.8, and 10.2 h for concentrations of 10, 20, and 50 mg/L,
respectively. Degradation is not a single step process; thus,
using a microbial consortium as a bioremediation agent
offers advantage than a single microbe. BPA depleted by
fied using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer (GC–
MS). The intermediates in the bracket are not detected in this study
one species offers no guarantee that the products will be
non-hazardous. The remaining species of the consortia will
possibly work on degrading the hazardous by-products into
less harmful compounds.
Degradation of BPA using Pseudomonas aeruginosa
PAb1 promoted cell growth rate and released the metabolites
phenol, acetophenone, hydroquinone and p-hydroxybenzoic
acid (Vijayalakshmi et al. 2018). The bacterium was isolated
from an effluent of a thermal paper industry which widely
uses BPA as antioxidant of the product. Moreover, the bac-
terium was identified to exist in a condition where pollution
parameters were significantly higher than the typical limit.
Hence, PAb1 might exhibit durability and survive when
applied to other environmental sinks that possess worse
physicochemical conditions.
Triclosan (TCS) as biocide
Biocides were used to preserve materials and prevent fun-
gal, microbial, and insect activity from damaging the mate-
rial (Horn et al. 2003). In 2007, global demand for biocidal
products reached $6 billion, with 5–6% projected growth per
13
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Page 16 of 22
year (Karsa 2007). Biocides were typically added (0.001–1%
w/w) in soft PVC and foamed polyurethane (Hansen et al.
2013).
An antimicrobial agent, TCS was used for formulation
of hygienic products, pesticide, fungistat, and as material
preservative for adhesives, fabrics, vinyl, plastic products,
textiles, and rubber (EPA 2008; FDA 2017). TCS were also
used as a preservative for one-time use medical devices
such as surgical scrubs, surgical sutures, catheters, and ure-
teral stents (Yueh and Tukey 2016). TCS was used for over
50 years; however, it is now limited to medical care set-
tings and recently banned for the formulation of antibacterial
soaps due to its insignificant effect for sanitation (FDA 2016;
Schweizer 2001). TCS kills the bacteria by inhibiting enoyl-
(acyl carrier protein) reductase, an enzyme essential for the
lipid synthesis of the cell (Macri 2017). The most common
environmental sink of TCS are surface water bodies such
as wastewater effluent, river, and lake (Singer et al. 2002).
TCS is an endocrine disruptor that commonly affects
the thyroid hormone (Crofton et al. 2007; Veldhoen et al.
2006) and is strongly associated with decrease immunity
function (Rees Clayton et al. 2011). TCS could also disrupt
LH and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) synthesis which
will also affect the production of androgen resulting in a
lower sperm production (Kumar et al. 2009). Carcinogenic-
ity potential of TCS was observed in vivo as findings sug-
gest that TCS promotes liver fibrogenesis and tumorigenesis
(Yueha et al. 2014).
Aside from its persistence in the environment and low
bioavailability, TCS are strongly uncooperative to micro-
bial bioremediation. Hence, more innovative bioremedia-
tion techniques are necessary. With the use of biosurfactant
(e.g. rhamnolipid) in bioremediation, interaction between
TCS and microbial cells could be strongly improved. Alpha-
proteobacteria (e.g., Sphingomonadaceae and Caulobac-
teraceae) were observed to be dominant in resisting TCS
in a rhamnolipid-enhanced aerobic biodegradation system
(Guo et al. 2016). Hence, it is a promising candidate for
the degradation of TCS. It was observed that the concentra-
tions of rhamnolipid (RL) is directly related to the aerobic
degradation. TCS was observed to be depleted from 30 µg/g
to 1.84 µg/g after 56 days using di-RL homologues (Guo
et al. 2016). However, efficiency of biosurfactant-enhanced
bioremediation is dependent on the environmental condi-
tion. Application of the RL is selective on a specific envi-
ronment. It was observed that the ideal conditions were pH
8–9, 20–35 °C, 0.001–0.1 mol/L NaCl, and high concentra-
tion of dissolved oxygen. Moreover, surfactants such as RL,
sophorolipids, and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate which
do not affect nitrification were found to enhance the biodeg-
radation of TCS in nitrification systems where Amaricoccus
was identified as the major TCS degrader (Jia et al. 2020).
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3 Biotech (2021) 11:350
Conclusion and future direction
The continuous increase in demand for plastics results in
the accumulation of plastic waste in the environment. These
wastes gradually release the additives that were once used to
produce and enhance the quality of these plastic products.
Even though plastics contain little to trace amounts of addi-
tives, the enormous volume of plastic waste makes plastic
additives a serious environmental hazard. The ubiquitous
nature of plastic additives in the environment prompted
researches that focuses on its bioremediation.
Microorganisms are well known for its capability to
evolve and survive in harsh environments. Thus, there is a
huge potential for microorganisms to endure a plastic addi-
tive-polluted environment. Biodegradation of the plastic
additives by microorganism was made complicated as these
pollutants tend to appear stable and/or highly toxic. Since
bioremediation is not a fully utilized technology, several
limitations can be observed in some pollutants, including,
but not limited to the following: (1) difficulty in enrichment
of degrading bacteria in microbial community as observed
in PCB remediation by Dehalococcoides sp. (Adrian et al.
2009); (2) cell growth inhibition due to high toxicity of pol-
lutant as in the case of TBBPA degradation in Dehalococ-
coides mccartyi CBDB-1 (Yang et al. 2015); (3) dead-end
by-products that exhibit toxicity; and (4) low degradation
efficiency. To enhance the degradation of organic pollutants,
several techniques are offered: (1) use of biosurfactants to
increase the rate of solubilization; (2) enrichment of strains
using a less toxic carbon source as discussed in acquisition
of PCB-dechlorinating strains enriched by tetrachloroethene;
(3) biostimulation (Qiu et al. 2012); (4) cometabolism (Lv
et al. 2016); and (5) gene modification in order to produce a
degrading enzyme essential to the decomposition of organic
pollutant (Ohtsubo et al. 2004).
The emergence of systems biology during the past dec-
ades potentially resolved several complications encountered
in past trials of bioremediation. Such complications include,
but are not limited to the following: (1) inefficient natural
biodegradation due to slow evolution of some microbes
to develop catabolic traits; (2) non-feasibility of catabolic
networks and enzymatic reaction kinetically and thermody-
namically; and (3) stress response of genetically modified
cell to the changes in metabolic module and exposure to pol-
lutant (Dvořák et al. 2017). Combination of the approaches
of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology is possible
through systems biology. Improving and modifying cellular
properties such as product yield by the organism, produc-
tion of new enzymes essential for biodegradation, substance
uptake, and cell robustness against toxic compounds are
warranted in order to realize the full potential of microbial
bioremediation (Nielsen et al. 2014).
3 Biotech (2021) 11:350 Page 17 of 22  350
PET plastics account for the 7.7% global demand dis-
tribution by resin type in 2018 (Plastic Europe 2019).
Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 is a promising candidate in
degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic.
PETase produced by Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 exhibits
structural similarity with cutinase and lipase (Austin et al.
2018). Mutation of two active-site residues of PETase in
order to narrow the binding cleft improved the degradation
(Austin et al. 2018). Leaf-branch compost cutinase (LCC)
also received much attention due to its capability to depo-
lymerize PET (Sulaiman et al. 2012). In a recent study,
LCC was enhanced via (1) mutagenesis of the enzyme to
enhance the PET-depolymerization specific activity and (2)
addition of disulfide bridge to provide higher thermostabil-
ity (Tournier et al. 2020). The depolymerization of PET was
further improved to 90% conversion of 200 g PET in just a
span of 2 h. Moreover, the group was able to recreate new
PET plastics out of products of depolymerization, a potential
solution to high global plastic volume. This study has been
successful in harnessing the potential of microbial enzymes
in the biodegradation of plastics. This has also demonstrated
the feasibility of circular economy by reducing the global
production of virgin plastics as they were able to recreate
plastics out of the enzyme degradation products.
Acknowledgements  The authors would like to express their gratitude
to the De La Salle University - University Research Coordination Office
(DLSU - URCO) for their support.
Declarations  https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/j.​resmic.​2016.​09.​003
Conflict of Interest  The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Ethics approval and consent to participate  The article does not contain
any studies involving human participants or animals.
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