Mutant library construction and green fluorescent protein expression in a marine fungus capable of plastics biodegradation

Rui LIU; Yani WANG; Zhenjie SU; Jun YANG; Fan FEI; Rongrong GAO; Chaomin SUN

doi:10.1007/s00343-025-5049-5

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Mutant library construction and green fluorescent protein expression in a marine fungus capable of plastics biodegradation

Biology | Updated：2026-03-26

- Mutant library construction and green fluorescent protein expression in a marine fungus capable of plastics biodegradation
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 44, Issue 1, Pages: 372-385(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
  2.Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center, Qingdao 266237, China
  3.Center of Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266000, China
  4.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101499, China
  5.College of Life Sciences, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
  6.Yantai Vocational College, Yantai 264670, China
- Author bio：
  
  sunchaomin@qdio.ac.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-025-5049-5
  CLC：
- Received：17 February 2025，
  
  Accepted：12 April 2025，
  
  Online First：09 May 2025，
  
  Published：01 January 2026
- Accepted：
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LIU Rui,WANG Yani,SU Zhenjie,et al.Mutant library construction and green fluorescent protein expression in a marine fungus capable of plastics biodegradation[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2026,44(01):372-385.
DOI：

LIU Rui,WANG Yani,SU Zhenjie,et al.Mutant library construction and green fluorescent protein expression in a marine fungus capable of plastics biodegradation[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2026,44(01):372-385. DOI： 10.1007/s00343-025-5049-5.

摘要

Abstract

With the increasing accumulation of plastic pollutants in various environments

research on microorganisms (in

cluding bacteria

fungi

and algae) with plastic degradation capabilities has gained significant attention. However

only a limited number of microbial plastic-degrading enzymes have been identified to date. This highlights that the degradation mechanisms employed by many plastic-degrading microorganisms

particularly filamentous fungi

remain insufficiently explored. In this study

we utilized a versatile fungal plasmid (pCT74) to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) in a marine-derived fungus

Alternaria

alternata

strain FB1 with plastic degradation capabilities. Upon evaluating the degradation effect of polyester-type polyurethane (PU) film

we observed that different transformants exhibited three kinds of activities (the same

reduced

or enhanced degradation capability) compared to the FB1 wild-type strain. Further analysis of the plasmid fragment insertion sites in different transformants revealed that pCT74 integrates randomly into the genome of the host fungus. Notably

a direct correlation was found between the plasmid insertion site and the degradation capability of the corresponding transformant. Our findings not only redefine the potential applications of plasmid pCT74 in filamentous fungi but also show a novel research approach to identifying key enzymes involved in plastic degradation by fungi.

关键词

Keywords

references

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