PLASTIC DEGRADING ABILITY OF LACCASE ENZYME ISOLATED FROM GARBAGE DUMPING SITES OF CHENNAIABIRAMI G., SRIMATHI M., SUGANTHI M., RAMPRASATH C. AND MANJUNATHAN J.Abstract Plastics are used exhaustively worldwide, and its accumulation in the environment has become global concern because of ground water scarcity. Plastics cannot be degraded in land or water because of its features. The ability to degrade plastic enzymatically has been thought to be finite to a few bacterial and fungal species. On the other hand degradation of plastics by microorganisms seems to be more effective. Considering that we aimed to isolate bacteria from the waste dumping yard of Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. Thirteen bacteria were isolated using minimal salt agar medium amended with 1% of plastic powder. The microbiological and biochemical characteristics were studied for the 13 plastic degrading bacteria. The 13 Bacteria were screened for laccase enzyme assay in which PB1, PB-4, PB-7, PB-12, PB-13 showed brown color zone around the colonies resulting in production of the enzyme. 1g plastic were tested for degradation by burying in soil pits and enriched with the bacterial culture. Weight loss of the plastic is calculated after three months. |