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Exploring Petase: a Promising Enzyme for Plastic Waste Management
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This review focuses on the role of PETase enzymes in plastic biodegradation, examining how conventional and biological methods compare for PET plastic management and discussing specific enzyme mutants and microbial strains with enhanced PET degradation capacity. The authors highlight that genetically engineered organisms combined with plastic-degrading enzymes represent the most promising pathway for practical industrial-scale PET bioremediation.
Plastic pollution is a pressing global challenge owing to the pervasive, near-unmanageable threat it poses to living and non-living systems and the environmental stress it causes. The widespread use of plastic materials, their slow degradation rates, and their ability to travel vast distances through air and water currents have made plastic waste a significant environmental challenge. Plastics are classified as degradable and non-degradable ones based on their extent of degradation in natural environments. Conventional plastics, have an extremely slow degradation rate in the environments. Degradation of plastics by environmental microbes are fast, eco-friendly and minimises pollution. This study focuses on role of PETase in PET plastic degradation. Conventional methods such as photochemical, thermal are employed. Biological method using microbes provide greener solutions. Mutagenesis of marine hydrocarbonoclastic bacterium Pseudomonas aestusnigri showed PET degrading potential. The Ideonella sakaiensis mutant showed 3-fold increase in PET degradation compared to wild type. Two strains C. reinhardtii CC-124 and CC-503 degraded PET completely to terephthalic acid detected using HPLC. The in vitro technique of plastic degradation does not fit industrial applications. Thus, genetically engineered microorganisms combined with plastic-degrading enzymes would be a possible for practical application.
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A mini-review on the role of PETase in polyethylene terephthalate degradation
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This mini-review summarized the structure, performance enhancement approaches, and potential applications of PETase, the enzyme from Ideonella sakaiensis discovered in 2016 that uses PET plastic as a carbon source, alongside MHETase for complete degradation into terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. The review highlighted progress in enzyme engineering for improved PETase activity and discussed applications in bioremediation and recycling, identifying it as a key candidate for addressing the global plastic waste problem through biological degradation.
Explorations of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Hydrolase for addressing PET Plastic Pollution
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This review explores the biology of PETase enzymes and their potential for addressing PET plastic pollution, covering the discovery of Ideonella sakaiensis and subsequent enzyme engineering efforts. Developing efficient PET-degrading enzymes is a promising biotechnological strategy for reducing plastic pollution at scale.
Enzymatic Degradation of Polyethylene Terephthalate Model Substrates by Esterase E4
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Researchers identified a novel esterase (E4) from Altererythrobacter indicus that degrades polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and its model substrates, retaining activity under high-temperature and high-salt conditions and boosting the activity of a known ultra-efficient PETase when used together, broadening the toolkit for enzymatic plastic recycling.
Biodegradation of PET: Current Status and Application Aspects
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This review covered the current status of PET biodegradation, focusing on the discovery and mechanism of PET hydrolytic enzymes from Ideonella sakaiensis and the pathway from enzyme identification to potential bioremediation application. The authors assess progress toward commercializing enzymatic PET degradation and identify remaining technical barriers for large-scale plastic waste management.
Degradation of PET Bottles by an Engineered Ideonella sakaiensis PETase
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Researchers engineered a mutant version of the bacterial enzyme IsPETase and found that a single amino acid substitution (S238Y) increased PET plastic degradation activity 3.3-fold, including against highly crystalline PET found in commercial beverage bottles, advancing prospects for enzymatic plastic recycling.
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