{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T04:12:24Z","timestamp":1792123944516,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"20","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,14]],"date-time":"2021-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1634169600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007620","name":"Educational Department of Liaoning Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["L2019040"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["L2019040"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007620","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005047","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2020-BS-229"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020-BS-229"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005047","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100018617","name":"Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["XLYC1807034"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["XLYC1807034"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100018617","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Talent Scientific Research Funds of Liaoning Petrochemical University","award":["2019XJJL-012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2019XJJL-012"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Plastic waste pollution and its difficult degradation process have aroused widespread concern. Research has demonstrated that the larvae of Tenebrio molitor (yellow mealworm), Galleria mellonella (greater wax moth), and Zophobas atratus (superworm) possess a biodegradation ability for polystyrene (PS) within the gut microbiota of these organisms. In this study, the difference in PS degradation and the changes of the gut microbiota were compared before and after feeding PS. The results showed that superworm had the strongest PS consumption capacity and the highest survival rate during the 30 d experiment period. They all could degrade PS to different degrees. Superworm showed the highest ability to degrade PS into low-molecular-weight substances, while yellow mealworm depolymerized PS strongly by destroying the benzene ring. The changes of the intestinal microbiome caused by feeding PS showed that after ingesting PS, there was a decrease in community diversity in superworm and yellow mealworm, but an increase in greater wax moth. Meanwhile, Enterococcus and Enterobacteriaceae, found in all three species\u2019 larvae upon 20 d of PS feeding, might play an important role in PS degradation. The results will provide more accurate PS degradation comparative data of the three species\u2019 larvae and theoretical guidance for further research on the efficient PS biodegradations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym13203539","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,14]],"date-time":"2021-10-14T23:02:16Z","timestamp":1634252536000},"page":"3539","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":99,"title":["Biodegradation of Polystyrene by Tenebrio molitor, Galleria mellonella, and Zophobas atratus Larvae and Comparison of Their Degradation Effects"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Shan","family":"Jiang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Petrochemical Engineering, Liaoning Petrochemical University, Fushun 113001, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tingting","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Petrochemical Engineering, Liaoning Petrochemical University, Fushun 113001, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingjing","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Petrochemical Engineering, Liaoning Petrochemical University, Fushun 113001, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0832-0952","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhanyong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2837","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2020.580709","article-title":"Microbial and Enzymatic Degradation of Synthetic Plastics","volume":"11","author":"Mohanan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. 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