Pestalotiopsis sp. ATCC 11816 was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection center as a candidate for testing metabolism of polyurethane. Polyurethanes constitute ~25 million metric tons of the total plastics produced worldwide (Geyer R et al. 2017). Pestalotiopsis spp. are endophytic fungi belonging to the subphylum Pezizomycotina under the phylum Ascomycota. They are known to be a rich source of secondary metabolites (Maharachchikumbura SSN et al. 2014). In addition, they have been also been implicated in polyurethane metabolism (Russell JR et al. 2011, Brunner I et al. 2018). This fungal strain has demonstrated the ability to break down soluble polyester polyurethane in solid and liquid media conditions in our laboratory. As a representative of polyurethane catabolizing eukaryotic organisms, this fungus serves towards gaining fundamental understanding of plastic metabolism in nature that will help develop fungal systems as chassis for biological recycling of waste polyurethane plastics.
This work was authored [in part] by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at NREL. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government.
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