Team:BUCT-China/Demonstrate
Demonstrate
We demonstrated the ability of our strain (Microbulbifer hydrolyticus) to degrade PE.We verified it by two experiments (FTIR and SEM).
1.SEM
Fig.1.SEM images of the degradation of PE under different conditions.Scale bar 2μm，MAG x30k.
（A）The image of the degradation of PE by ultraviolet light after 12 hours.
（B）The image of the degradation of PE by Microbulbifer hydrolyticus after 30 days.There are obvious cracks on the PE surface.
Analysis ：Before we started our project, we speculated that our strain might have the potential to degrade PE.Through the control group, we found that the degradation efficiency of ultraviolet light on PE was very low, almost no degradation.Fortunately, from the experimental group, we found that our strain (Microbulbifer hydrolyticus ) had a certain degradation effect on PE material, which proved that our previous conjecture was correct to some extent.
2.FTIR
Fig.2.FTIR spectra of PE standards and the sample after reaction with bacteria.
(A) 2918.8- -CH3;2849.5- -CH2-;1466.0- -CH2-;722.6- -(CH2)N-,N>4; PE structure.
(B) Extra peaks in the range of 3000-3500,3392.2 -OH,3195.7-unsaturated and 1644.9-contain double bonds.
Analysis：From the infrared spectrum, we can find that (A) is the control group,that is PE. (B) as the experimental group, under the action of bacteria, we found that some double bond peaks and oxygen-containing group peaks appeared.This indicates that our bacteria indeed oxidize the surface of PE to a certain extent, and some enzymes of this strain have the ability to react with polymers. Meanwhile, we can further speculate that the oxidase system of this strain may be the key enzymes involved in the degradation process.