Biodegradable polylactic acid shapes the nitrogen-transforming microbial community structure and function of wastewater treatment ecosystems

This study aims to uncover the influencing mechanism of PLA, a representative biodegradable plastic, on the nitrogen removal process as well as the linkages of different functional bacteria and PLA in the nitrogen removal system. The genome-centric metagenomic analysis revealed the distribution of key genes and genomes related to nitrogen metabolisms and biodegradable plastics depolymerization.