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An efficient strategy to tailor PET hydrolase: Simple preparation with high yield and enhanced hydrolysis to micro-nano plastics
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This study developed a simplified, high-yield preparation method for PET-degrading hydrolase enzymes to improve their ability to break down PET nano- and microplastics. The engineered enzyme showed enhanced hydrolysis activity against PET microplastics, offering a more practical route to enzymatic plastic waste treatment.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nano/microplastics (PET-NMPs) are regarded as an emergent hazardous waste for the environment. Enzymatic treatment of PET-NMPs is one of the most promising methods. However, strategies for mining or engineering of PET hydrolases with better characteristics and the simple and cost-effective preparation of them are the bottlenecks currently. Herein, we proposed a gene fusion strategy to tailor PET hydrolase (ICCG) with ferritin (namely F-C) towards micro-nano PET degradation. The purified F-C was obtained by an easy scalable low-speed centrifugation with 80.8 % activity recovery and 82.9 % protein recovery compared to the crude protein extraction, with the final high yield of 2.17 g/L. Encouragingly, unlike only hydrolyzing amorphous PET (crystallinity lower than 10 %), the resulted F-C showed 84.53 mg/h/mg specific activity at 70 °C for 5 h towards micro-PET with relatively high crystallinity (20.54 %) at the optimized enzyme/PET ratio of 1:100 (Wt), without producing intermediates. The supreme activity of F-C was closely related to its enhanced affinity towards substrate, increased substrate's ester bond tensions and binding pocket volume. More interestingly, F-C exhibited promising stability not only in storage or high temperature, but also in simulated seawater (hypersaline environment), with the half-lives of 128.4 days at 30 °C. Thus, the all-in-one strategy will offer a green and alternative solution to assist the PET-NMPs waste treatments such as recycling in the high-temperature reactor or degradation in seawater.
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This review examines the discovery and engineering of PET-degrading enzymes including PETase and cutinase variants, discussing protein engineering strategies to improve catalytic efficiency and thermostability for practical biodegradation of polyethylene terephthalate plastic waste.
Current knowledge on enzymatic PET degradation and its possible application to waste stream management and other fields
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This review distinguished between enzymatic PET surface modification (useful for fiber treatment) and enzymatic PET degradation (needed for waste management), cataloguing the hydrolases capable of each function and the conditions required. The authors evaluate the prospects for deploying PET-degrading enzymes in industrial plastic waste streams.
Enzymatic Remediation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)–Based Polymers for Effective Management of Plastic Wastes: An Overview
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Enzymatic approaches for remediating PET-based plastic waste were reviewed, covering PETase and related enzymes that can break PET into reusable monomers. Enzyme engineering strategies to improve thermostability and catalytic efficiency are discussed as a pathway to scalable biological PET recycling.
Recent advances in enzyme engineering for improved deconstruction of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) plastics
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This review covers recent progress in engineering enzymes that can break down PET plastic, the material used in water bottles and food containers. While natural enzymes that digest PET have been discovered, they are not yet fast or durable enough for industrial-scale recycling. Advances in protein engineering, directed evolution, and computational design are steadily improving these enzymes, which could eventually provide a sustainable way to recycle PET and reduce microplastic pollution at its source.
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This study tested commercial-grade enzymes for degrading PET plastic and found that enzymatic degradation was effective at laboratory scale but faced challenges for real-world application. Scaling up enzymatic PET recycling could reduce the persistence of plastic waste that eventually fragments into microplastics in the environment.
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