FIGURE 4.

Construction of the three-species microbial consortium. (A) Concentration of TPA during incubation with R. jostii (dark blue circles) and OD₆₀₀ of R. jostii grown in LB medium with (orange triangles) or without (light blue squares) 2 g/L TPA. (B) PET degradation by the three-species microbial consortium with different starting ratios of Bs_PETase: Bs_MHETase: R. jostii. (C) Concentrations of BHET (orange triangles and light blue squares) and TPA (yellow rhombuses and dark blue circles) over time when incubated with different microbial consortia. (D) PET degradation by Bs_PETase, Bs_MHETase, the two-species microbial consortium, and the three-species microbial consortium. All experiments were performed at least in triplicate. Error bars indicate standard deviation. **p < 0.01 (one-sided t-test).