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Ecological and genomic perspectives on fungal plastic biodegradation: Research progress, opportunities and challenges

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Plastic pollution has emerged as a pervasive global threat to ecosystems, with rising production and ineffective waste management accelerating environmental accumulation. As sustainable bioremediation strategies become increasingly vital, fungi have gained attention for their capacity to degrade recalcitrant plastics in natural and anthropogenically impacted environments. Fungal taxa isolated from diverse ecological niches, such as landfills, marine sediments, insect guts, mulch films, and herbivore dung, have can colonize plastic surfaces, form biofilms, and enzymatically depolymerize synthetic polymers. Key enzymes include hydrolases (cutinases, esterases, and lipases) and oxidoreductases (laccases, peroxidases, and peroxygenases). These enzymes cleave plastic polymers into smaller units (monomers), which are further mineralized into CO 2 and CH 4 . Recent advances in ecological genomics and systems biology have revealed the genetic architectures, regulatory pathways, and enzyme diversity underpinning fungal plastic degradation. Omics-driven investigations, such as metagenomics, transcriptomics, and comparative genomics, have identified lineage-specific adaptations and functional genes involved in plastic catabolism. Despite this progress, fungal degradation still faces constraints. These include slow enzyme kinetics, incomplete metabolic conversion, and challenges in scaling up bioprocesses. This review integrates ecological and genomic insights into fungal plastic biodegradation, highlighting species diversity, enzymatic mechanisms, and functional pathways. It also identifies research gaps, such as the need for optimization, engineered microbial consortia, and pilot-scale and real-world environmental applications of fungal plastic degradation systems. Finally, the review discusses emerging innovations, including gene editing, enzyme stabilization, and scalable fungal bioreactors, as promising directions for translating fungal plastic degradation into real-world environmental solutions.

Source: Ecological Genetics and Genomics

DOI: 10.1016/j.egg.2025.100378

Authors: Aubrey Dickson Chigwada, Memory Tekere, Henry Joseph Oduor Ogola

Institution: University of South Africa

Language: English

Topic: Microplastics and Plastic Pollution

Subfield: Pollution

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,540