J Hazard Mater. 2026 Sep 6;517:143531. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.143531. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) pollution necessitates biotechnological strategies that enhance interaction between the hydrophobic surfaces of PET and microbial biocatalysts. In this study, we developed PBW1-SAMF, an operationally defined autoclaved surface-active metabolite formulation derived from Trichoderma asperellum PBW1, which was isolated from plastic-contaminated mangrove sediments in Malaysia. The analyses conducted using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy suggested that PBW1-SAMF is a lipid-rich, multicomponent formulation containing surface-active and bioemulsifier-like constituents. However, blank-overlapping LC-MS features were excluded from PBW1-specific interpretation. PBW1-SAMF was evaluated in two PET biocatalytic systems: a PET-degrading yeast-like fungus, Geotrichum sp. ETG, and a recombinant Escherichia coli whole-cell biocatalyst expressing Ester7845. In the fungal system, PBW1-SAMF increased terephthalic acid (TPA) release by approximately 3.8-fold in comparison with the ETG-only control. In the recombinant bacterial system, PBW1-SAMF increased blank-corrected TPA release by approximately 80-fold in comparison with the whole-cell control, although the absolute unit-corrected apparent PET-equivalent conversion remained low. PBW1-SAMF also showed stronger enhancement than the tested commercial biosurfactant treatments under the present recombinant whole-cell reaction conditions. Contact angle, CFU enumeration, extracellular OD260/OD280 leakage assessment, and inhibition-zone assays supported improved PET wettability and whole-cell compatibility. In summary, PBW1-SAMF is a multicomponent formulation-level enhancer derived from fermentation, which increases soluble PET-derived product release. However, further formulation standardisation, mechanistic validation, and complete mass-balance analysis are required to further investigate its efficacy.
PMID:42715668 | DOI:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.143531