Plastics have become ubiquitous in modern life due to their durability, versatility, and low production cost. However, their resistance to degradation has resulted in a global environmental crisis, characterized by the accumulation of over 6.9 billion tons of plastic waste. Biodegradation has emerged as a sustainable alternative to the conventional methods of waste management, which are often inadequate or environmentally burdensome. Among fungi, basidiomycetes, especially those representing wood-decaying species, are outstanding for their exceptional lignocellulolytic potential and enzymatic versatility, both rendering them promising candidates for the breakdown of synthetic polymers. Their oxidative enzymatic repertoire, including laccases and peroxidases, exhibit broad substrate specificity and hold a key role in the degradation of recalcitrant plastics such as polyolefins and polyesters. Despite challenges associated with their slow growth, variable enzyme expression, and limited genomic characterization, basidiomycetes represent a valuable biological resource, since many species can serve as efficient microbial cell factories for the production of mycoproteins, bioactive metabolites, and enzymes, thereby expanding their potential use in the catalytic upcycling of plastic-derived intermediates into value-added, sustainable bioproducts. This primer presents information on degradation mechanisms, ecological function, and industrial applications of plastic-degrading basidiomycetes, emphasizing the integration of bioprospecting and molecular approaches in order to achieve their employment in plastic waste management and valorization.
Giouroukou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.