Buy (625 RUB)
Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription or Fee Access
Processing of Biological and Municipal Solid Waste Using Insect Larvae and DNA Metabarcoding as a Promising Method for Monitoring the Microbiome of the Resulting Products
https://doi.org/10.18412/1816-0395-2026-2-39-45
Abstract
The possibility of using insect larvae to address the problem of disposal and processing of organic waste, including municipal solid waste (MSW), was considered. The prospects of bioconversion of the organic fraction of waste using invertebrates, as well as the application of biodegradation using larvae of Zophobas morio for MSW processing, were noted. Special attention was paid to the important aspect of biosafety of the resulting products – vermicompost and larval biomass. The effectiveness of the DNA metabarcoding method for microbiome monitoring and pathogen detection was emphasized. It was concluded that the integration of MSW bioconversion using Zophobas morio larvae with regular metabarcoding monitoring represents a promising and technologically advanced basis for creating safe and sustainable waste processing systems.
Keywords
Zophobas morio,
waste bioconversion,
plastic biodegradation,
municipal solid waste,
gut microbiome,
vermicompost,
DNA metabarcoding
Supporting agencies: The work was supported by the St. Petersburg State University project 128785052.
About the Authors
E. R. Gafarova
Saint Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Assistant
D. P. Kanaikin
Autonomous Non-Profit Organization “Biosphere Technologies”
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
General Director
A. V. Smirnov
Saint Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Cand. Sci. (Biol.), Associate Professor
References
1. Стахеева А.А., Захарова А.А., Умнов Н.М., Другова Е.Д., Королик В.В., Шеина Н.И. Эколого-гигиенические аспекты утилизации твердых бытовых отходов. Российский вестник гигиены. 2024. № 3. С. 46—52. DOI: 10.24075/rbh.2024.109.
2. Осипов В.И., Мамаев Ю.А., Козлякова И.В. Территориальное размещение полигонов твёрдых коммунальных отходов. Вестник Российской академии наук. 2020. Т. 90. № 6. С. 567—574.
3. Садчиков А.П. Культивирование водных и наземных беспозвоночных. Принципы и методы. М., Товарищество научных изданий КМК, 2009. 272 с.
4. Thakur A., Kumar A., Kumar C. V., Kiran B. S., Kumar S., Athokpam V. A review on vermicomposting: By-products and its importance. Plant. Cell Biotechnol. Mol. Biol. 2021. Vol. 22. P. 156—164.
5. Vidal A., Blouin M., Lubbers I., Capowiez Y., Sanchez-Hernandez J. C., Calogiuri T., van Groenigen J.W. The role of earthworms in agronomy: Consensus, novel insights and remaining challenges. Advances in agronomy. 2023. Vol. 181. P. 1—78.
6. Sabine J.R. Earthworms as a source of food and drugs. Earthworm Ecology: from Darwin to vermiculture. Ed. by J. E. Satchell. Dordrecht, Springer Netherlands, 1983. P. 285—296.
7. Hajam Y.A., Kumar R., Kumar A. Environmental waste management strategies and vermi transformation for sustainable development. Environmental Challenges. 2023. Vol. 13. Art. No. 100747.
8. Sogomonyan K., Gafarova E., Khabibulina V., Vishnyakov A., Granovitch A. Comparative intestine microbiome dynamics of the earthworm Eisenia fetida cultivated in sewage sludge and peat. Bioresource Technology Reports. 2024. Vol. 27. Art. No. 101948.
9. da-Silva W.C., Silva É.B.R.D., Silva J.A.R.D., Martorano L.G., Belo T.S., Sousa C.E.L., Lourenзo-Júnior J.D.B. Nutritional value of the larvae of the black soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) and the house Fly (Musca domestica) as a food alternative for farm animals–a systematic review. Insects. 2024. Vol. 15. № 8. Art. No. 619.
10. Iñaki G.B.J., Antonio P.C.G., Efrén D., Hiram M.R., Daniela G.I., Damián R.J. Black soldier fly: Prospection of the inclusion of insect-based ingredients in extruded foods. Food Chemistry Advances. 2022. Vol. 1. Art. No. 100075.
11. Shahanaz E., Zwally K. M., Powers C., Lyons B., Kaufman P., Athrey G., Taylor T.M. Flies as vectors of foodborne pathogens through food animal production: Factors affecting pathogen and antimicrobial resistance transmission. Journal of Food Protection. 2025. Art. No. 100537.
12. Kuan Z.J., Chan B.K.N., Gan S.K.E. Worming the circular economy for biowaste and plastics: Hermetia illucens, Tenebrio molitor, and Zophobas morio. Sustainability. 2022. Vol. 14. № 3. Art. No. 1594.
13. Liu J., Li H., Liu Z., Xu D., Zhu X., Hu L., Mo H. Influence of agricultural waste‐based diets on growth performance, gut microbiome composition, and volatile organic compound profiles in Zophobas morio. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. 2025. Vol. 173. No. 6. P. 616—626.
14. Andrade R.C., de Carvalho Alves J., Roselino M.N. A review of Zophobas morio: chemical, nutritional and functional characteristics. Avancos em Ciйncia e Tecnologia de Alimentos. 2021. Vol. 3. P. 533—548.
15. Rumbos C.I., Athanassiou C.G. The superworm, Zophobas morio (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae): a ‘sleeping giant’in nutrient sources. Journal of Insect Science. 2021. Vol. 21. No. 2. Art. № 13.
16. Koh D.W.S., Ang B.Y.X., Yeo J.Y., Xing Z., Gan S.K.E. Plastic agriculture using worms: Augmenting polystyrene consumption and using frass for plant growth towards a zero-waste circular economy. UCL Open, Environment Preprint. 2020. Art. No. 000048.
17. He L., Zhang Y., Ding M.Q., Li M.X., Ding J., Bai S.W., Yang S.S. Sustainable strategy for lignocellulosic crop wastes reduction by Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus (mealworm) and potential use of mealworm frass as a fertilizer. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2021. Vol. 325. Art. No. 129301.
18. Dal Magro A., Lovarelli D., Bacenetti J., Guarino M. The potential of insect frass for sustainable biogas and biomethane production. A review. Bioresource Technology. 2024. Vol. 412. Art. No. 131384.
19. Yang Y., Wang J., Xia M. Biodegradation and mineralization of polystyrene by plastic-eating superworms Zophobas atratus. Science of the total environment. 2020. Vol. 708. Art. No. 135233.
20. Sun J., Prabhu A., Aroney S. T., Rinke C. Insights into plastic biodegradation: community composition and functional capabilities of the superworm (Zophobas morio) microbiome in styrofoam feeding trials. Microbial genomics. 2022. Vol. 8. No. 6. Art. No. 000842.
21. Octavia B., Rakhmawati A., Suhartini S., Rachmani L.D., Putra T.D. Low-density polyethylene sheet biodegradation by Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas morio larvae and metagenome studies on their gut bacteria. Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity. 2023. Vol. 24. No. 2. P. 1024—1033.
22. Urbanek A.K., Rybak J., Hanus-Lorenz B., Komisarczyk D.A., Mirończuk A.M. Zophobas morio versus Tenebrio molitor: Diversity in gut microbiota of larvae fed with polymers. Science of the Total Environment. 2024. Vol. 952. Art. No. 176005.
23. Burgos B.R., Morales F., Morales-Vera R., Valdés C., Faundez J.Y., Souza E.P.D., Arencibia A.D. Microbiological and Physicochemical Approach in the Feeding of Superworm (Zophobas morio) with Petroleum-Derived Polymer Diets. Microorganisms. 2024. Vol. 12. No. 11. Art. No. 2118.
24. Rosidi M.A.A.B.M., Hashim N.H.B.H.B., Fuzi S.F.Z.B.M., Fuzi B.M. The Effect of Zophobas Morio Superworms as the Agent towards Polystyrene Biodegradation to Reduce Plastic Waste Pollution. Progress in Engineering Application and Technology. 2025. Vol. 6. No. 1. P. 54—64.
25. Sanz L., Tran T., Kainer D. Potential of Tenebrio molitor and Zophobas morio in plastic degradation: mechanisms, microorganisms, and enzymes. J Adv Technol Educ. 2024. Vol. 3. No. 2. P. 194—218.
26. Liu M., Clarke L.J., Baker S.C., Jordan G.J., Burridge C.P. A practical guide to DNA metabarcoding for entomological ecologists. Ecological entomology. 2020. Vol. 45. No. 3. P. 373—385.
27. Combrink L., Humphreys I.R., Washburn Q., Arnold H.K., Stagaman K., Kasschau K.D., Sharpton T.J. Best practice for wildlife gut microbiome research. A comprehensive review of methodology for 16S rRNA gene investigations . Frontiers in Microbiology. 2023. Vol. 14. Art. No. 1092216.
28. Hakimzadeh A., Abdala Asbun A., Albanese D., Bernard M., Buchner D., Callahan B., Anslan S. A pile of pipelines: An overview of the bioinformatics software for metabarcoding data analyses. Molecular Ecology Resources. 2024. Vol. 24. No. 5. Art. No. e13847.
29. Harrison J.P., Chronopoulou P.M., Salonen I.S., Jilbert T., Koho K.A. 16S and 18S rRNA gene metabarcoding provide congruent information on the responses of sediment communities to eutrophication. Frontiers in Marine Science. 2021. Vol. 8. Art. No. 708716.
30. Steyaert M., Priestley V., Osborne O., Herraiz A., Arnold R., Savolainen V. Advances in metabarcoding techniques bring us closer to reliable monitoring of the marine benthos. Journal of Applied Ecology. 2020. Vol. 57. No. 11. P. 2234—2245.
31. Domínguez J., Aira M., Crandall K. A., Pérez-Losada M. Earthworms drastically change fungal and bacterial communities during vermicomposting of sewage sludge. Scientific Reports. 2021. Vol. 11. No. 1. Art. No. 15556.
32. Ottoni J.R., Passarini M.R.Z., Bonugli-Santos R.C. Metabarcoding approach in identifying potential pollutant degraders. Omics Insights in Environmental Bioremediation. Singapore, Springer Nature Singapore, 2022. P. 665—681.
33. Babazadeh F., Gharavi S., Soudi M. R., Zarrabi M., Talebpour Z. Potential for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation revealed by metabarcoding and bacterial isolates from soil around a bitumen source in Southwestern Iran. Journal of Polymers and the Environment. 2023. Vol. 31. No. 4. P. 1279—1291.
34. Bohm K., Taylor W., Gyawali P., Pattis I., Ginés M.J.G. Black soldier fly-based bioconversion of biosolids: microbial community dynamics and fate of antibiotic resistance genes. Science of The Total Environment. 2024. Vol. 930. Art. No. 172823.
35. Dutra J., Garcia G., Gomes R., Cardoso M., Cortes A., Silva T., Goes-Neto A. Effective biocorrosive control in oil industry facilities: 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding for monitoring microbial communities in produced water. Microorganisms. 2023. Vol. 11. No. 4. Art. No. 846.
36. Passarini M.R.Z., Moreira J.V.F., Gomez J.A. M. et al. DNA metabarcoding of the leachate microbiota from sanitary landfill: potential for bioremediation process. Arch Microbiol. 2021. Vol. 203. P. 4847—4858. DOI: 10.1007/s00203-021-02471-8
37. Ottoni J.R., dos Santos Grignet R., Barros M.G.A., Bernal S.P.F., Panatta A.A.S., Lacerda-Junior G.V., Passarini M.R.Z. DNA metabarcoding from microbial communities recovered from stream and its potential for bioremediation processes. Current microbiology. 2022. Vol. 79. No. 2. Art. No. 70.
38. Hao X., Zhang W., Zhao L., Shen L., Zhu L., Zeng B., Bai L. Bacillus subtilis reduces antibiotic resistance genes of animal sludge in vermicomposting by improving heat stress tolerance of Eisenia foetida and bacterial community adjustment. Environmental Research. 2023. Vol. 219. Art. No. 115088.
39. Spatola G., Giusti A., Gasperetti L., Nuvoloni R., Dalmasso A., Chiesa F., Armani A. 16S rRNA metabarcoding applied to the microbiome of insect products (novel food): a comparative analysis of three reference databases. Italian Journal of Food Safety. 2025. Vol. 14. No. 1. Art. No. 13171.
Review
For citations:
Gafarova E.R., Kanaikin D.P., Smirnov A.V. Processing of Biological and Municipal Solid Waste Using Insect Larvae and DNA Metabarcoding as a Promising Method for Monitoring the Microbiome of the Resulting Products. Ecology and Industry of Russia. 2026;30(2):39-45. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.18412/1816-0395-2026-2-39-45
Views:
128
JATS XML
Email this article 