การย่อยสลายถุงมือยางโดยแบคทีเรียที่คัดแยกได้จากดินที่ปนเปื้อนยาง

Abstract

An increasing production and demand of natural rubber products has caused problems in waste management. Biodegradation is environmentally friendly but normally extremely slow. Therefore there is a need to reduce the time for decomposing. In this study, natural rubber degrading bacteria were isolated from 80 latex-contaminated soll samples in the southern Thailand. 120 of possible rubber degrading bacteria were isolated and tested for their abilities to degrade rubber gloves in a mineral salt medium (MSM), Isolate pn 12.1 gave 8.53% weight loss of the rubber gloves. Ten isolates were also isolated from a soil consortium from previous study (F1-F10), Isolate F5 gave 9.36% weight loss of the rubber gloves and produced 4.89% of CO, evolution in the degradation process. Changes in appearance were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), rubber gloves seemed to undergo degradation which resulted in the deterioration of glove's surface. FTIR method was also performed to confirm the degradation. Isolate F5 was then Identifiod as Rhodococcus pyridinivorans with 99% similarity by 16S rRNA analysis. The prosence of a gene encoding a latex clearing protein (lep gene) was determined to confirm the latex degradation ability, Consortium and the mixed culture gave the highest percentage weight losses of rubber gloves of 18.38% and 18.82% respectively, which were more effective than using single strain of isolate F6. Consortium and mixed culture could use rubber gloves as the sole carbon source as can be seen by growth and many deteriorated holes on rubber surfacos.