This study examined the biodegradation of natural rubber (NR) and deproteinized natural rubber (DPNR) by bacterial consortia enriched from a rubber-processing factory’s waste in Vietnam. The results reveal the degradation in both NR and DPNR, and the DPNR was degraded easier than NR. The highest weight loss of 48.37% was obtained in the fourth enrichment consortium with DPNR, while 35.39% was obtained in the fifth enrichment consortium with NR after 14 days of incubation. Nitrogen content and fatty acid content determined by Kjeldahl method and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively, were decreased significantly after being incubated with the consortia. Structure of degraded rubber film analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed the presence of aldehyde group, a sign of rubber degradation. Bacterial cells tightly adhering and embedding into NR and DPNR films were observed by scanning electron microscopy. There were differences in the bacterial composition of the consortia with NR and DPNR, which were determined by metagenomic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The phyla Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria may play a role in the degradation of non-isoprene compounds such as protein or lipid, while the phylum Actinobacteria plays a crucial role in the degradation of rubber hydrocarbon in all consortia.

这项研究研究了越南橡胶加工工厂废物中浓缩的细菌财团对天然橡胶（NR）和脱蛋白天然橡胶（DPNR）的生物降解作用。结果揭示了NR和DPNR均降解，并且DPNR比NR更容易降解。孵育14天后，第四次富集与DPNR的联合体获得了最高的体重减轻48.37％，而第五次富集与NR的联合体获得了35.39％的最大体重减轻。与财团一起温育后，分别通过凯氏定氮法和傅里叶变换红外光谱法（FTIR）测定的氮含量和脂肪酸含量显着降低。通过核磁共振波谱分析的降解橡胶膜的结构表明存在醛基，这是橡胶降解的标志。通过扫描电子显微镜观察细菌细胞紧密粘附并嵌入NR和DPNR膜中。通过使用16S rRNA基因测序的宏基因组分析确定了带有NR和DPNR的菌落中细菌组成的差异。门拟杆菌 和变形杆菌可能在非异戊二烯化合物（例如蛋白质或脂质）的降解中发挥作用，而放线菌门在所有财团的橡胶烃的降解中都起关键作用。