Polyester-degrading actinomycetes isolated from the Touchien River of Taiwan

Actinomycete strains were isolated from upstream and downstream regions of the Touchien River in Taiwan and screened for the ability to degrade poly(ethylene succinate) (PES), poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) and/or poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) by the clear-zone method. Out of 305 isolates 135 isolates were PHB-degraders (44.2%), 83 isolates were PCL-decomposers (27.2%), and 64 isolates could degrade PES (21.0%). Furthermore, 46 isolates could degrade both PHB and PCL (15%), 39 isolates could degrade both PHB and PES (12.8%), and 12 isolates could degrade the three polyesters used in this study. Based on the appearance of isolates, the major isolates belong to the Streptomyces genus (91.9%) and Micromonospora genus (8.1%).