A comprehensive assessment of microbiome diversity in Tenebrio molitor fed with polystyrene waste

Abstract

Recently it was demonstrated that mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) larvae consume and biodegrade polystyrene. Thus, in this study a breeding investigation with various types of polystyrene was performed to follow the changes in the gut microbiome diversity. Polystyrene used for packaging purposes (PSp) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) were perceived as more favorable and attacked more frequently by mealworms compared to raw polystyrene (PS) and material commercially available for parcels (PSp). Although our studies showed that larvae could bite and chew selected materials, they are not able to degrade and use them for consumption purposes. In a next-generation sequencing experiment, among all samples, seven classes, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacilli, Clostridia, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Flavobacteria, were indicated as the most abundant, whereas the predominant genera were Enterobacter, Lactococcus and Enterococcus. Additionally, we isolated three bacteria strains able to use diverse types of bioplastic as a sole carbon source. The strains with biodegradable activity against bioplastic were identified as species of the genera Klebsiella, Pseudomonas and Serratia. The presence of a bacterial strain able to degrade bioplastic may suggest a potential niche for further investigations.