Interpretable Machine Learning and Comparative Genomics Reveal Microbial Plastic-Degrading (Microbeyt) Potential
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Plastic pollution poses a critical environmental threat, and microbial enzymes represent a sustainable strategy for polymer degradation. We present a computational pipeline that integrates orthogroup-based genomic analysis with machine learning and interpretable feature importance to identify microbial strains with high plastic-degrading potential. Using presence or absence matrices and SHAP-derived feature contributions to the MTP visualization, the workflow highlights conserved gene modules driving predictive classification. Application to a single genus revealed strains harboring versatile enzymatic repertoires capable of targeting diverse polymers, including polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyurethane, and polyhydroxyalkanoates. These findings provide a rational framework for prioritizing candidate strains for experimental validation and bioremediation strategies. Overall, this study demonstrates how integrating comparative genomics with interpretable machine learning can guide the systematic discovery of microbial solutions to plastic pollution.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".