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Plastic-Degrading Clusters of Orthologous Groups in Prokaryotes

Mustari, S.; Pham, L. T.; Saikkonen, K.; Nakamura, M.; Puigbo, P.

2025-06-10 microbiology
10.1101/2025.06.10.658834 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Micro- and nanoplastic pollution (MNPP) is an increasing environmental threat due to the persistence, dispersal, and potential toxicity of plastic particles. Although microbial biodegradation offers a sustainable mitigation strategy, a comprehensive understanding of plastic-degrading proteins across microbial taxa is lacking. Here, we present the Plastic-Degrading Clusters of Orthologous Groups (PDCOGs) database (https://phylobone.com/microworld/PDCOG), comprising 625,616 potential plastic-degrading proteins (PPDPs) from free-living prokaryotes organized into 51 orthologous groups. The database/PDCOGs enable systematic analysis of microbial plastic-degrading capacity across ecosystems and phylogenetic lineages. Notably, PPDPs constitute [~]3.5% of all prokaryotic proteins, with over 95% of the species having the potential to biodegrade at least one plastic polymer type. This resource provides a genomic tool/framework for exploring the ecological and evolutionary importance of plastic biodegradation and supports future efforts to mitigate the global MNPP crisis.

Published in Environmental Technology & Innovation · not in our set (fewer than 10 published preprints to learn from) · training set

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