Ibrahim's blog

Test for biodegradation (Week 12)

            Biodegradation is a process in which a substance/object is capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms depending on the environmental conditions. After observing the colonization of Pseudomonas species (P. fluorescens, P. aeruginosa, & P. stutzeri) on microplastic/plastic types #3, #4, #5, #6, it was in the team’s best interest to test if these bacteria could aid in biodegradation.

            Test for biodegradation is conducted through for time frames: 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 28 days. Ones broken down to these timeframes, the co-incubation process starts. First, alcohol-treated microplastics (figure 1) were prepared to be co-incubated with 1 mL of Pseudomonas species (broth) inside a sterile test tube. Once set under the sterile tubes, each of them will be parafilmed and be labeled according to the dates (7 days, 14 days, ….). Throughout the experimental dates, each pseudomonas species is inoculated to PIA plates just to see if the bacteria are alive. If not, in some cases we feed them liquid broth (chicken soup for bacteria).

Figure 1: Alcohol treated microplastic