Nitrogen Fixation and Diazotrophic Community in Plastic-Eating Mealworms Tenebrio molitor L

Mealworms, the larvae of a coleopteran insect Tenebrio molitor L., are capable of eating, living on, and degrading non-hydrolyzable vinyl plastics as sole diet. However, vinyl plastics are carbon-rich but nitrogen-deficient. It remains puzzling how plastic-eating mealworms overcome the nutritional obstacle of nitrogen limitation. Here, we provide the evidence for nitrogen fixation activity within plastic-eating mealworms. Acetylene reduction assays illustrate that the nitrogen-fixing activity ranges from 12.3 ± 0.7 to 32.9 ± 9.3 nmol ethylene·h⁻¹·gut⁻¹ and the corresponding fixed nitrogen equivalents of protein are estimated as 8.6 to 23.0 µg per day per mealworm. Nature nitrogen isotopic analyses of plastic-eating mealworms provide further evidence for the assimilation of fixed nitrogen as a new nitrogen source. Eliminating the gut microbial microbiota with antibiotics impairs the mealworm’s ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, indicating the contribution of gut microbiota to nitrogen fixation. By using the traditional culture-dependent technique, PCR and RT-PCR of nifH gene, nitrogen-fixing bacteria diversity within the gut was detected, and the genus Klebsiella was demonstrated to be an important nitrogen-fixing symbiont. These findings first build the relationship between plastic degradation (carbon metabolism) and nitrogen fixation (nitrogen metabolism) within mealworms. Combined with previously reported plastic-degrading capability and nitrogen-fixing activity, mealworms may be potential candidates for up-recycling of plastic waste to produce protein sources.