A research team from the Kelaniya and Peradeniya Universities has succeeded in finding a fungus that digests polythene.
Kelaniya University Plant and Molecular Biology Department’s Prof.Renuka Attanayake has worked as the main researcher of that research team and the team points out that many environmental and health problems have arisen due to the improper release of plastic, polythene, which is widely used in the world and they also said that it is a serious challenge that global society faces at present.
White rot fungi, which digests hard wood in forests in the dry zone, have been used for this research, and in this research, what types of enzymes can be produced by white rot fungi were tested. It can be identified that these fungi produce powerful enzymes and it was studied under this research whether wood-digesting fungi have the ability to decompose polythene.
Subsequent to separating about 50 fungal samples during this research, from the wood found in the Dimbulagala Dry Zone Forest Reserve, some selected fungi had been used to test their ability to digest polythene and it had been found that some of the selected fungi have a very high digestion ability.
In order to monitor the ability of these fungi isolated from wood to digest polythene, research has been carried out through various methods for seven years and the research team has found that the method of adding wood, polythene, fungus and various nutrients required for the growth of the fungus as media. It is said that the properties of polyethylene can be changed and the necessary background for decomposition can be set through the enzymes that grow inside.
However, it can be found that these fungi eat polyethylene because they do not get anything to eat in the absence of wood as a medium and accordingly, after about 45 days after adding the selected fungi to the polythene sheets, these fungi have the ability to change the properties of polyethylene and digest it and this has been identified by the research team.
Prof.Renuka Attanayake said that this process is called Metobolocally flexible (metabolically flexible).
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