Metabolic activity of cryogenic soils in the subarctic zone of Siberia towards "green" bioplastics.

The present study investigates, for the first time, the structure of the microbial community of cryogenic soils in the subarctic region of Siberia and the ability of the soil microbial community to metabolize degradable microbial bioplastic - poly-3-hydroxybutyrate [P(3HB)]. When the soil thawed, with the soil temperature between 5-7 and 9-11 °C, the total biomass of microorganisms at a 10-20-cm depth was 226-234 mg g soil and CO production was 20-46 mg g day. The total abundance of microscopic fungi varied between (7.