Article
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Tier 2
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Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence.
Marine & Wildlife
Remediation
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Bacteroidetal cold-active and promiscuous esterases play a significant role in global polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation
2021
7 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 30
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Robert F. Dierkes,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Sebastian Weigert,
Dominik Danso,
Hongli Zhang,
Hongli Zhang,
Patrick C. F. Buchholz,
Sebastian Weigert,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Pablo Pérez-García,
Jennifer Chow,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Pablo Pérez-García,
Jennifer Chow,
Jennifer Chow,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Sebastian Weigert,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Jennifer Chow,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Wolfgang R. Streit
Pablo Pérez-García,
Dominik Danso,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Birte Höcker,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Jennifer Chow,
Sebastian Weigert,
Sebastian Weigert,
Stefanie Sternagel,
Jennifer Chow,
Jennifer Chow,
Pablo Pérez-García,
Stefanie Sternagel,
Birte Höcker,
Steven Hallam,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Wolfgang R. Streit
Steven Hallam,
Thomas Schott,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Wolfgang R. Streit
Jennifer Chow,
Thomas Schott,
Klaus Juergens,
Klaus Juergens,
Klaus Juergens,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Klaus Juergens,
Christel Vollstedt,
Birte Höcker,
Christel Vollstedt,
Christel Vollstedt,
Christel Vollstedt,
Christel Vollstedt,
Christel Vollstedt,
Birte Höcker,
Robert F. Dierkes,
Christel Vollstedt,
Christel Vollstedt,
Christel Vollstedt,
Christel Vollstedt,
Cynthia Maria Chibani,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Wolfgang R. Streit
Wolfgang R. Streit
Dominik Danso,
Cynthia Maria Chibani,
Dominik Danso,
Dominik Danso,
Dominik Danso,
Dominik Danso,
Patrick C. F. Buchholz,
Patrick C. F. Buchholz,
Jürgen Pleiss,
Jürgen Pleiss,
Alexandre Almeida,
Christel Vollstedt,
Alexandre Almeida,
Birte Höcker,
Ruth A. Schmitz,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Birte Höcker,
Ruth A. Schmitz,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Ruth A. Schmitz,
Ruth A. Schmitz,
Jennifer Chow,
Jennifer Chow,
Ruth A. Schmitz,
Wolfgang R. Streit
Wolfgang R. Streit
Wolfgang R. Streit
Summary
Researchers identified new bacterial enzymes from gut-associated Bacteroidetes bacteria capable of breaking down PET plastic at cold temperatures. These cold-active plastic-degrading enzymes could be useful for developing biological solutions to plastic pollution in cold aquatic environments where microplastics accumulate.
<title>Abstract</title> Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is an important synthetic polymer accumulating in nature and recent studies have identified microorganisms capable of degrading PET. While the majority of known PET hydrolases originate from the Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, here we describe the first functional PET-active enzymes from the Bacteroidetes phylum. Using a PETase-specific Hidden-Markov-Model (HMM)-based search algorithm we identified two promiscuous and cold-active esterases derived from Aequorivita sp. (PET27) and Chryseobacterium jeonii (PET30) acting on PET foil and powder. Notably, one of the enzymes (PET30) was able to hydrolyze PET at temperatures between 4° - 30°C with a similar turnover rate compared to the well-known Ideonella sakaiensis enzyme (IsPETase). PET27 and PET30 homologues were detected in metagenomes encompassing a wide range of different global climate zones. Additional transcript abundance mapping of marine samples imply that these enzymes and source organisms play a significant role in the long-term degradation of microplastic particles and fibers.