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Bioplastics 2016
November 10-11, 2016
Volume 7 Issue 6(Suppl) J Bioremediat Biodegrad
ISSN: 2155-6199 JBRBD, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
November 10-11, 2016 Alicante, Spain
International Conference onSustainable Bioplastics
Somayeh Mollasalehi, J Bioremediat Biodegrad 2016, 7:6(Suppl)
Influence of the water soluble polymer polyvinyl alcohol on compost and soil fungal communities
Somayeh Mollasalehi
University of Manchester, UK
The water soluble biodegradable polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is widely industrially used in textile sizing and paper
coating as well a variety of other applications. While some individual microbes and consortia capable of degrading PVA
have been identified in the laboratory, there have been few studies that have examined its impact on naturally occurring
microbial communities. In this research, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) were used to monitor
changes in the fungal community profile in compost and soil at 25oC and 45oC following PVA addition over a six weeks period.
In compost, the response to the presence of PVA was complex. At both 25oC and 45oC, in the absence of PVA, the community
shifted over 6 weeks, with greatest change noticeable after 2 weeks. In the soil at 25oC, the community changed in the presence
compared to the absence of PVA with the greatest shift in the community occurring after four weeks before returning to a
profile similar to that seen in the absence of PVA after 6 weeks. Overall, this study has shown that PVA causes a significant
shift in the fungal community with a number of T-RF’s detected only in the presence of PVA. However, these were minor
components of the community and the presence of PVA did not cause a major shift in the dominant species.
Biography
Somayeh Mollasalehi has completed her PhD from the University of Manchester and is currently working as a Researcher at the University of Manchester, UK.