Increasing abundance of plastic waste has alarmed the society, but the environmental fate of microplastics has been difficult to trace. However, now a research group, led by the University of Jyväskylä, have used carbon isotope labelling (enrichment) to follow the fate of polyethylene in the food chain. For the surprise of the researchers, plastic carbon was transformed even to beneficial fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6, by the microbes originating from humic lakes. The research was published in Scientific Reports –series in December 2019.
In the recently published study, Dr. Sami Taipale and his co-workers studied biodegradation of polyethylene, which is one of the most used plastics. Polyethylene was labelled with 13C-isotope, which enables the most sensitive technology for studying the fate of slowly degrading materials.
“We analyzed produced gases and microbial fatty acids using stable isotope mass spectrometry”, says Taipale, who just received a 4-year project from Kone Foundation to continue his studies on microplastic degradation.
Read more at Jyväskylä University
Photo: Stable isotope -labelled microplastics enable studying their fate in the environment and food chain, says Dr. Sami Taipale from the University of Jyväskylä. CREDIT: Marja Tiirola