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On March 10, 2025, a container ship collided with an oil tanker off the coast of England. Containing thousands of small plastic granules which were deposited on the beaches, this disaster for local fauna and flora is far from being an isolated case in Europe.
Scientists are in the process of evolving enzymes to optimise their activity. Will Tingle has been along to see one such venture in action…
In this programme, Helen Czerski and Tom Heap visit the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub at University College London, where Professor Mark Miodownik shows them how science is trying to keep up with the proliferation of plastic pollution.
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Read the latest papers published by our team
- Efforts to improve the activity of enzymes that can break down plastics like PET have focused on improving their activity at high temperatures where the plastic is more malleable and easier to break down; however, not much is known about how enzymes see and interact with plastic. In this study, we engineer the surface features of a plastic degrading enzyme and investigate how to improve its activity on different plastic forms. Read more: Engineering surface electrostatics affords control over morphological preference, synergy, and activity in polymer degrading enzymes
- It has been proposed that fusing protein partners to plastic degrading enzymes can increase the efficiency of their activities by introducing new ways of binding to polymer surfaces or adding additional enzymatic activities. The factors that underlie the success of these strategies are poorly understood, and so this study evaluates how protein stability can affect the ability of enzyme fusions to break down plastic. Read more: Investigating the effect of fusion partners on the enzymatic activity and thermodynamic stability of poly(ethylene terephthalate) degrading enzymes
- PET polyester is one of the most commonly produced plastics globally, widely used in packaging, textiles, and manufacturing. While natural enzymes can break PET down for recycling, they can be optimised for properties including enhanced activity, the temperature at which they function, and stability, by engineering and evolving them. This study reports the development of a new platform that accelerates identification and engineering of enzymes with improved performance. Read more: A high-throughput screening platform for engineering poly(ethylene terephthalate) hydrolases
- Post-consumer PET waste is a common environmental pollutant that leaks into the environment in the form of macro and microplastics—with concerning health impacts. This study reports the engineering of environmental bacteria for the direct microbial consumption of PET, which could lead to improved and more sustainable upcycling strategies for this plastic. Read more: Degradation of PET plastic with engineered environmental bacteria
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Though compostable plastics are used as alternatives to conventional (non-compostable) plastics due to their ability to decompose through industrial composting comingled with food waste, non-compostable plastics sometimes contaminate this industrial composting process, resulting in the formation of microplastics in the end compost. This study describes the development of an efficient model for identifying and classifying plastics and large microplastics during the industrial composting process. Read more: Using hyperspectral imaging to identify and classify large microplastic contamination in industrial composting processes
- The use of enzymes for breaking down PET polyester has been proposed as a new recycling strategy for this waste polymer. This study explores limitations of natural enzymes that break down PET, and positive outcomes of engineering them for enhanced stability at high temperatures. Read more: Concentration-dependent inhibition of mesophilic PETases on poly(ethylene terephthalate) can be eliminated by enzyme engineering
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In 2019, global plastic production reached 460 million tonnes. PET constituted approximately 10% of this amount, and, because of its resistance to degradation, this has led to its accumulation in the environment. This study reports a new method for increased yields of PET degradation. Read more: Mechanoenzymatic reactions for the hydrolysis of PET
- True recycling of plastics is difficult and expensive, leading to accumulation in the environment as waste. Recently, a new field of research has developed, aiming to use natural biological processes to solve this man-made problem. Incredibly, some microorganisms are able to produce enzymes with the capacity to chemically break down plastic polymers into their monomeric building blocks. At an industrial scale, this process could allow for a circular recycling economy. In This review offers a summary of the research to date, most commonly applied analytical techniques for enzyme discovery and industrial upscaling, and provide recommendations for a standardised approach. Read more: A review of cross-disciplinary approaches for the identification of novel industrially relevant plastic-degrading enzymes.
- In addressing the plastic-waste pollution crisis, enzymatic deconstruction of the synthetic polyester PET is among the options available for chemical recycling of this common plastic. Early demonstrations of enzymatic PET recycling have shown feasibility, but the technology is not yet cost-competitive with production of virgin petroleum-derived PET. Takeing a lesson from nature, this study analyzes an enzyme engineering approach to improve the catalytic efficiency of enzymes, and evaluates the impact of this strategy. Read more: The role of binding modules in enzymatic poly(ethylene terephthalate) hydrolysis at high solids loadings.
- PET is one of the most commonly discarded plastics, and among the most well-studied polymers for chemical recycling, in which there have been major advances in the use of hydrolase enzymes, in terms of the industrial relevance of this approach, and the discovery of natural microbial systems that respond to the presence of PET in nature. This study expands the number, and diversity of thermotolerant scaffolds for enzymatic PET deconstruction. Read more: Sourcing thermotolerant poly(ethylene terephthalate) hydrolase scaffolds from natural diversity.