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Nanoplastics
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Sub-micro- and nano-sized polyethylene terephthalate deconstruction with engineered protein nanopores
Nature Catalysis2023
45 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 50
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Laura Fernández-López,
Ana Robles‐Martín,
Laura Fernández-López,
Raquel Portela,
Rafael Amigot‐Sánchez,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Laura Fernández-López,
Manuel Ferrer,
Raquel Portela,
Laura Fernández-López,
Laura Fernández-López,
Víctor Alcolea-Rodriguez,
Víctor Alcolea-Rodriguez,
Manuel Ferrer,
José L. González-Alfonso,
Víctor Alcolea-Rodriguez,
Sergi Rodà,
Sergi Rodà,
Sergi Rodà,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Víctor Alcolea-Rodriguez,
Raquel Portela,
Manuel Ferrer,
Víctor Alcolea-Rodriguez,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Manuel Ferrer,
Víctor Alcolea-Rodriguez,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Víctor Alcolea-Rodriguez,
Raquel Portela,
Francisco J. Plou,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Manuel Ferrer,
Francisco J. Plou,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Diego Heras‐Márquez,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Vı́ctor Guallar
Vı́ctor Guallar
David Almendral,
Cristina Coscolín,
Manuel Ferrer,
Manuel Ferrer,
Francisco J. Plou,
Francisco J. Plou,
Raquel Portela,
Raquel Portela,
Francisco J. Plou,
Raquel Portela,
Manuel Ferrer,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Miguel Á. Bañares,
Raquel Portela,
Álvaro Martínez‐del‐Pozo,
Cristina Coscolín,
Sara García‐Linares,
Cristina Coscolín,
Manuel Ferrer,
Manuel Ferrer,
Manuel Ferrer,
Vı́ctor Guallar
Vı́ctor Guallar
Vı́ctor Guallar
Summary
Researchers engineered protein nanopores — tiny molecular tunnels — capable of breaking down nano-sized PET plastic (a common plastic found in bottles and packaging) under mild conditions. While these nanoreactors cannot degrade large plastic pieces, they show promise for filtering and destroying nanoplastics in wastewater treatment, where conventional methods fall short.
Abstract The identification or design of biocatalysts to mitigate the accumulation of plastics, including sub-micro- and nano-sized polyethylene terephthalate (nPET), is becoming a global challenge. Here we computationally incorporated two hydrolytic active sites with geometries similar to that of Idionella sakaiensis PET hydrolase, to fragaceatoxin C (FraC), a membrane pore-forming protein. FraC m1/m2 could be assembled into octameric nanopores (7.0 nm high × 1.6–6.0 nm entry), which deconstructed (40 °C, pH 7.0) nPET from GoodFellow, commodities and plastic bottles. FraC m1 and FraC m2 degrade nPET by endo- and exo-type chain scission. While FraC m1 produces bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate as the main product, FraC m2 yields a high diversity of oligomers and terephthalic acid. Mechanistic and biochemical differences with benchmark PET hydrolases, along with pore and nPET dynamics, suggest that these pore-forming protein catalytic nanoreactors do not deconstruct macro-PET but are promising in nanotechnology for filtering, capturing and breaking down nPET, for example, in wastewater treatment plants.