Natural Rubber
More than 50,000 rubber products are being produced from natural rubber. These processed rubber products are environmentally toxic and recalcitrant towards biodegradation. A large fraction of microplastics pollution are from tyre abrasion, dispersed into the environment and later washed into the oceans. Rubber products are essential in our everyday life, and with significant increase in rubber products consumption, it is critical to identify proper means of handling these wastes. We are looking at biodegradation as a sustainable long-term solution to this problem.
References
- Altenhoff, A. L., De Witt, J., Andler, R., & Steinbüchel, A. (2019). Impact of Additives of Commercial Rubber Compounds on the Microbial and Enzymatic Degradation of Poly(cis-1, 4-isoprene). Biodegradation, 30(1), 13-26.
- Ilcu, L., Röther, W., Birke, J., Brausemann, A., Einsle, O., & Jendrossek, D. (2017). Structural and Functional Analysis of Latex Clearing Protein (Lcp) Provides Insight into the Enzymatic Cleavage of Rubber. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-11.
- Jendrossek, D., & Birke, J. (2019). Rubber Oxygenases. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 103(1), 125-142.
- Kasai, D. (2020). Poly(cis-1,4-isoprene)-Cleavage Enzymes from Natural Rubber-Utilizing Bacteria. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 8(6), 1089-1097.
- Nanthini, J., & Sudesh, K. (2017). Biodegradation of Natural Rubber and Natural Rubber Products by Streptomyces sp. strain CFMR 7. Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 25(3), 606-616.
