塑料的生物降解与转化专刊序言

Preface to the special issue: biotechnology of plastic waste degradation and valorization

摘要:

合成塑料已广泛应用于国民经济各领域，是国民经济的支柱产业。然而，不规范生产、使用塑料制品以及处置塑料废弃物等问题，造成塑料在环境中长期累积，导致了严重的环境污染和碳资源浪费。生物降解是实现废塑料污染治理与资源化的新途径，已成为国内外废弃塑料处置研究的热点。近年来，在塑料降解微生物/酶资源的分离、筛选、鉴定以及对其进行工程化改造等方面取得了重要突破，为环境中微塑料的治理、废塑料的闭环循环再生提供了新的思路和方案。另一方面，利用微生物(纯菌或菌群)将塑料降解产生的单体进一步转化为生物可降解塑料及其他具有高附加值的化合物，对于解决废塑料的生态环境污染、推动塑料循环经济发展以及减少塑料在生命周期中的碳排放等方面具有重要意义。《生物工程学报》特组织出版“塑料的生物降解与转化”专刊，邀请了国内外塑料生物降解与转化领域的相关专家学者介绍了塑料生物降解资源的发掘、塑料解聚酶的设计与改造、塑料降解物的生物高值转化等领域最新进展和研究成果，收录了包括评论、综述、研究论文等类型的相关文章16篇，为塑料生物降解与转化的进一步研究提供借鉴和指导。

Abstract:

Synthetic plastics have been widely used in various fields of the national economy and are the pillar industry. However, irregular production, plastic product use, and plastic waste piling have caused long-term accumulation in the environment, contributing considerably to the global solid waste stream and environmental plastic pollution, which has become a global problem to be solved. Biodegradation has recently emerged as a viable disposal method for a circular plastic economy and has become a thriving research area. In recent years, important breakthroughs have been made in the screening, isolation, and identification of plastic-degrading microorganisms/enzyme resources and their further engineering, which provide new ideas and solutions for treating microplastics in the environment and the closed-loop bio-recycling of waste plastics. On the other hand, the use of microorganisms (pure cultures or consortia) to further transform different plastic degradants into biodegradable plastics and other compounds with high added value is of great significance, promoting the development of a plastic recycling economy and reducing the carbon emission of plastics in their life cycle. We edited a Special Issue on the topic of “Biotechnology of Plastic Waste Degradation and Valorization”, focusing on the researches progress in three aspects: Mining microbial and enzyme resources for plastic biodegradation, Design and engineering of plastic depolymerase, and biological high-value transformation of plastic degradants. In total, 16 papers have been collected in this issue including reviews, comments, and research articles, which provide reference and guidance for further development of plastic waste degradation and valorization biotechnology.