Rubber is an essential part of our daily lives with thousands of rubber-based products being made and used. Natural rubber undergoes chemical processes and structural modifications, while synthetic rubber, mainly synthetized from petroleum by-products are difficult to degrade safely and sustainably. The most prominent group of biological rubber degraders are Actinobacteria. Rubber degrading Actinobacteria contain rubber degrading genes or rubber oxygenase known as latex clearing protein (lcp). Rubber is a polymer consisting of isoprene, each containing one double bond. The degradation of rubber first takes place when lcp enzyme cleaves the isoprene double bond, breaking them down into the sole carbon and energy source to be utilized by the bacteria. Actinobacteria grow in diverse environments, and lcp gene containing strains have been detected from various sources including soil, water, human, animal, and plant samples. This review entails the occurrence, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular characteristics of Actinobacteria with respect to its rubber degrading ability, and discusses possible technological applications based on the activity of Actinobacteria for treating rubber waste in a more environmentally responsible manner.
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Latex clearing protein (lcp) found in Actinobacterial strains is reportedly critical for the initial oxidative cleavage of poly(cis-1,4-isoprene), the major polymeric unit of rubber. In this study, we screened 940 Actinobacterial strains isolated from various locations in Sarawak on NR latex agar and identified 18 strains from 5 genera that produced clearing zones and contained (latex clearing protein) lcp genes. We report here the first lcp genes from Microtetraspora sp. AC03309 (lcp 1 and lcp2) and Dactylosporangium sp. AC04546 (lcp1, lcp2, lcp3), together with their operon structure. Complete 16S rDNA gene sequence revealed that Dactylosporangium sp. AC04546 is 99% identical to Dactylosporangium sucinum RY35-23 whereas Microtetraspora sp. AC03309 is 98% identical to Microtetraspora glauca IFO14761. Morphological images and the spectrophotometric detection of aldehyde and keto groups in rubber samples incubated with the strains confirm the strains’ ability to degrade rubber-based products.
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