“supervers” who are fond of polystyrene, a possible key to plastic recycling

It is thanks to their intestinal enzymes that the larvae of the Zophobas morio beetle can hold the key to a higher recycling rate.according to researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Chris Rinke, who led a study published Thursday in the journal Microbial Genomicssaid toAFP that previous research has shown that small wax and mealworms (which are also beetle larvae) have a good history of using plastic.

Thus, we hypothesized that larger supervers would eat moreHe added.

The larvae reach up to five centimeters in length and are farmed as a food source for reptiles and birds, or even for humans in countries such as Thailand and Mexico.

Rinke and his team put the supervers on a variety of diets for three weeks. Some received polystyrene, some sound, others did not.

We confirmed that superworms could survive on a polystyrene diet alone, and even gain weight – compared to a starvation control group – suggesting that the worms could gain energy by eating polystyrene.he said.

Although polystyrene-fed supervers completed their life cycle, became nymphs and then fully evolved into adult beetles, the test revealed a loss of microbial diversity in their intestines and the presence of potential pathogens.

These results suggest that although insects can survive on polystyrene, it is not a healthy diet and it affects their health.

Create machines to replace worms

Next step, the team used a technique called metagenomics to study the gut microbial community and find which gene-encoded enzymes are involved in plastic degradation.

One way to utilize the results is to provide food waste supervers or agricultural bioproducts to consume with polystyrene.

This could be a way to improve the health of worms and deal with large amounts of food waste in Western countries.according to Mr. Rinke.

But if it is possible to breed more worms for this purpose, he thought of another path: to create recycling factories that mimic what the larvae do, which first cut the plastic and then throw away.

Ultimately, we want to remove the supervers from the equationexplained the researcher, who is now planning more research aimed at finding the most effective enzymes and then further improving them through enzyme engineering.