Engineering Plastic Eating Enzymes Using Structural Biology

Plastic pollution has emerged as a significant environmental concern in recent years and has prompted the exploration of innovative biotechnological solutions to mitigate plastic’s negative impact. The discovery of enzymes capable of degrading specific types of plastics holds promise as a potential...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomolecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-09, Vol.13 (9), p.1407
Main Authors: Barclay, Amelia, Acharya, K. Ravi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodegradation
Biology
Chemical properties
Crystal structure
Environmental aspects
Enzymes
hydrophobicity
PETase
Plastic debris
Plastics
Pollution
Polyethylene terephthalate
polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
Polymers
protein engineering
Proteins
Review
Simulation
structural biology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Plastic pollution has emerged as a significant environmental concern in recent years and has prompted the exploration of innovative biotechnological solutions to mitigate plastic’s negative impact. The discovery of enzymes capable of degrading specific types of plastics holds promise as a potential solution. However, challenges with efficiency, industrial scalability, and the diverse range of the plastic waste in question, have hindered their widespread application. Structural biology provides valuable insights into the intricate interactions between enzymes and plastic materials at an atomic level, and a deeper understanding of their underlying mechanisms is essential to harness their potential to address the mounting plastic waste crisis. This review article examines the current biochemical and biophysical methods that may facilitate the development of enzymes capable of degrading polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most extensively used plastics. It also discusses the challenges that must be addressed before substantial advancements can be achieved in using these enzymes as a solution to the plastic pollution problem.
ISSN:2218-273X
2218-273X
DOI:10.3390/biom13091407