To date, only a few microbial community studies of cold seeps at the South China Sea (SCS) have been reported. The cold seep dominated by tubeworms was discovered at South Yungan East Ridge (SYER) offshore southwestern Taiwan by miniROV. The tubeworms were identified and proposed as sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGalleria mellonella is a pest of honeybees in many countries because its larvae feed on beeswax. However, G. mellonella larvae can also eat various plastics, including polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene, and therefore, the species is garnering increasing interest as a tool for plastic biodegradation research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe larvae of the black soldier fly (BSF), (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), have demonstrated the ability to efficiently bioconvert organic waste into a sustainable source of food and feed, but fundamental biology remains to be discovered to exploit their full biodegradative potential. Herein, LC-MS/MS was used to assess the efficiency of eight differing extraction protocols to build foundational knowledge regarding the proteome landscape of both the BSF larvae body and gut. Each protocol yielded complementary information to improve BSF proteome coverage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlastic biodegradation by insects has made significant progress, opening up new avenues for the treatment of plastic waste. Wax moth larvae, for example, have attracted the attention of the scientific community because they are known to chew, ingest, and biodegrade natural polymer bee waxes. Despite this, we know very little about how these insects perform on manufactured plastics or how manufactured plastics affect insect metabolism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsects used to treat organic waste streams and produce valuable protein products are increasingly exposed to plastic contaminated source material assimilating plastic carbon into organic biomass, which is pervasive and hazardous to organisms. Our understanding of this increased insect-plastic interaction remains limited and needs urgent scientific attention if plastic biodegradation and production rates of quality protein are to be improved. Herein, we investigated the biochemical impact of various plastics using three insect models.
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