Plastic waste management and recycling became a serious global issue as it affects living beings from all the ecosystems. Researchers investigated biodegradation of polyethylene (PE) by measuring changes in various physico-chemical and structural characteristics using techniques like as fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), etc. However, these evidences are not enough to prove the exact biodegradation of PE. In this review, we summarized microbial biodegradation of polyethylene and discussed recent developments for the candidate microbial enzymes and their possible roles in PE degradation. In addition, we conversed the advanced technologies correctly used for measuring PE degradation using isotope-labeled PE to figure out its metabolism into the end products like as 13CO2.

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聚乙烯的生物降解：简述

塑料废料的管理和回收已经成为一个严重的全球性问题，因为它影响着所有生态系统中的生物。研究人员通过使用诸如傅立叶变换红外光谱（FTIR），扫描电子显微镜（SEM）等技术测量各种物理化学和结构特征的变化来研究聚乙烯（PE）的生物降解。但是，这些证据不足以证明PE的确切生物降解。在这篇综述中，我们总结了聚乙烯的微生物降解，并讨论了候选微生物酶的最新进展及其在PE降解中的可能作用。此外，我们还对使用同位素标记的PE正确测量PE降解的先进技术进行了交流，以弄清其代谢成最终产物（如13CO2）的过程。