Yes, I have found that the bacteria are capable of degrading polystyrene. When given a solution of only water, carbon free mineral salts, and polystyrene in an otherwise sterile medium, the bacteria are capable of proliferation. They are also capable of reducing the polystyrene mass from between 8-12%, depending upon the surface area of the polystyrene source material, in the course of 2 weeks at 37 Celsius on a rocker. I will definitely make sure to deposit my colonies as soon as available. Thank you and you are welcome.

Thanks! Good to know that you have an isolate. If you plan to publish it you must deposit it to a well known culture center such as ATCC, DSM, etc. I suggest you characterizing it using similar approach we used for PE (Yang et al., 2014, ES&T). Only mass reduction is not enough for the paper in a peer-reviewed journal. Can your culture remove PS mass by 50-80% as you continue culturing it as long as possible? Or will the reaction stop as OD reaches at a certain level? I meet a few persons and all had some problems for continuing. With more success! Wei-Min Wu

I will try my best to use the characterization that you performed and deposit the culture at a center. I have not run a test long enough to see if the mass degradation can reach beyond 12%, but I will get one started and allow it to run for the remainder of the experimentation. I have read many articles on the experimentation I am conducting and many use macroscopic pieces of polystyrene for metabolic tests. I think that the bacteria may be creating a layer which they can not get through or are dying by their own waste accumulation. One step in my experimentation will involve trying PS distributed with solvents and biodegradable emulsifiers to see if the end maximum efficiency increases. However, my attempts have not been successful in creating such a mixture. As well, were I to create such a mixture, I am not sure how I would find the change in mass without bacterial mass interfering. Thank you for your information and good luck with your continued research.

Polystyrene (PS) is an excellent target polymer for plastic degradation. Bacteria capable of degrading polyethylene (PE) may not work on PS but bacteria degrading PS could degrade both since depolymerization of PS involves non-specific depolymerase(s).

Suggest trying microplastic PS. You may get higher removal percent. You can find MPs online or make it by yourself.

Where is the location of your university?

With success!

I will definitely look into microplastics. I will see if they are capable of both. I have heard that the larvae can consume both but have not tested it and it may have multiple bacteria responsible. I am located in Dallas in Northern Georgia of the United States.

If you can to west coast, you are welcome to visit our lab.