Microbial Production of Biodegradable Plastics

The escalating environmental concerns associated with conventional plastics have spurred a global demand for biodegradable alternatives. In environmental biotechnology, microbial processes are being utilized to synthesize polymers like polylactic acid, offering a promising pathway to environmentally friendly plastics. Advances in microbial engineering have made significant strides in employing renewable resources for plastic production. However, the main challenge lies in optimizing these biological systems for efficient synthesis of polymers. Creating more effective microbial strains and processes that successfully convert renewable substrates into high-quality biodegradable plastics is critical.

This Research Topic aims to further explore the microbial production of biodegradable plastics, with a particular focus on enhancing the efficiency and practicality of these biological manufacturing processes. We seek to include improving microbial strains and refining production methods to ensure robust and scalable solutions. By investigating both the biological and process engineering aspects of bioplastic production, we aim to bridge the gap between sustainable polymer synthesis and real-world application.

Gathering new studies on the production of biodegradable plastics via microbial synthesis, we welcome Original Research, Reviews, Methods and Perspective articles on the following subjects:

• Development and optimization of microbial strains for enhanced production;

• Innovations in fermentation technology for biopolymer synthesis;

• Biodegradation behavior of microbial plastics under various environmental conditions;

• Synthetic plastic upcycling as as part of circular solutions;

• Extraction and purification of microbially-produced plastics;

• Genetic engineering approaches in microbial biosynthesis.

Please note that Microbiotechnology does not consider descriptive studies that are solely based on amplicon (e.g., 16S rRNA) profiles or comparisons of nucleic acid extracts (e.g., metagenomics), unless they are accompanied by a clear hypothesis and experimentation and provide insight into the microbiological system or process being studied.

Topic Editor Dr. Thu Vuong is the co-founder and CTO of Yzymes and Buyo. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: biodegradable plastics, microbial production of bioplastics, polylactic acid bioplastics, microbial polymer synthesis, sustainable bioplastics, biopolymer production, bioplastic biosynthesis

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.