Low Carbon Footprint Recycling of Post-Consumer PET Plastic with a Metagenomic Polyester Hydrolase.

Earth is flooded with plastics and the need for sustainable recycling strategies for polymers has become increasingly urgent. Enzyme-based hydrolysis of post-consumer plastic is an emerging strategy for closed-loop recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The polyester hydrolase PHL7, isolated from a compost metagenome, completely hydrolyzes amorphous PET films, releasing 91 mg of terephthalic acid per hour and mg of enzyme.

Efficient extracellular recombinant production and purification of a Bacillus cyclodextrin glucanotransferase in Escherichia coli.

Background: Cyclodextrin glucanotransferases (CGTases) catalyze the synthesis of cyclodextrins, cyclic oligosaccharides composed of glucose monomers that find applications in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. An economic application of these industrially important enzymes requires their efficient production and recovery. In this study, the effect of Sec-type signal peptides on the recombinant expression of a CGTase derived from Bacillus sp.

Degradation of Polyester Polyurethane by Bacterial Polyester Hydrolases.

Polyurethanes (PU) are widely used synthetic polymers. The growing amount of PU used industrially has resulted in a worldwide increase of plastic wastes. The related environmental pollution as well as the limited availability of the raw materials based on petrochemicals requires novel solutions for their efficient degradation and recycling.

Effect of Tris, MOPS, and phosphate buffers on the hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate films by polyester hydrolases.

The enzymatic degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) occurs at mild reaction conditions and may find applications in environmentally friendly plastic waste recycling processes. The hydrolytic activity of the homologous polyester hydrolases LC cutinase (LCC) from a compost metagenome and TfCut2 from Thermobifida fusca KW3 against PET films was strongly influenced by the reaction medium buffers tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris), 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS), and sodium phosphate. LCC showed the highest initial hydrolysis rate of PET films in 0.

A disulfide bridge in the calcium binding site of a polyester hydrolase increases its thermal stability and activity against polyethylene terephthalate.

Elevated reaction temperatures are crucial for the efficient enzymatic degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). A disulfide bridge was introduced to the polyester hydrolase TfCut2 to substitute its calcium binding site. The melting point of the resulting variant increased to 94.

A dual enzyme system composed of a polyester hydrolase and a carboxylesterase enhances the biocatalytic degradation of polyethylene terephthalate films.

TfCut2 from Thermobifida fusca KW3 and the metagenome-derived LC-cutinase are bacterial polyester hydrolases capable of efficiently degrading polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films. Since the enzymatic PET hydrolysis is inhibited by the degradation intermediate mono-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (MHET), a dual enzyme system consisting of a polyester hydrolase and the immobilized carboxylesterase TfCa from Thermobifida fusca KW3 was employed for the hydrolysis of PET films at 60°C. HPLC analysis of the reaction products obtained after 24 h of hydrolysis showed an increased amount of soluble products with a lower proportion of MHET in the presence of the immobilized TfCa.

Engineered bacterial polyester hydrolases efficiently degrade polyethylene terephthalate due to relieved product inhibition.

Recent studies on the enzymatic degradation of synthetic polyesters have shown the potential of polyester hydrolases from thermophilic actinomycetes for modifying or degrading polyethylene terephthalate (PET). TfCut2 from Thermobifida fusca KW3 and LC-cutinase (LCC) isolated from a compost metagenome are remarkably active polyester hydrolases with high sequence and structural similarity. Both enzymes exhibit an exposed active site in a substrate binding groove located at the protein surface.

Ca2+ and Mg2+ binding site engineering increases the degradation of polyethylene terephthalate films by polyester hydrolases from Thermobifida fusca.

Several bacterial polyester hydrolases are able to hydrolyze the synthetic polyester polyethylene terephthalate (PET). For an efficient enzymatic degradation of PET, reaction temperatures close to the glass transition temperature of the polymer need to be applied. The esterases TfH, BTA2, Tfu_0882, TfCut1, and TfCut2 produced by the thermophilic actinomycete Thermobifida fusca exhibit PET-hydrolyzing activity.

Functional characterization and structural modeling of synthetic polyester-degrading hydrolases from Thermomonospora curvata.

Thermomonospora curvata is a thermophilic actinomycete phylogenetically related to Thermobifida fusca that produces extracellular hydrolases capable of degrading synthetic polyesters. Analysis of the genome of T. curvata DSM43183 revealed two genes coding for putative polyester hydrolases Tcur1278 and Tcur0390 sharing 61% sequence identity with the T.

Synthetic polyester-hydrolyzing enzymes from thermophilic actinomycetes.

Thermophilic actinomycetes produce enzymes capable of hydrolyzing synthetic polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In addition to carboxylesterases, which have hydrolytic activity predominantly against PET oligomers, esterases related to cutinases also hydrolyze synthetic polymers. The production of these enzymes by actinomycetes as well as their recombinant expression in heterologous hosts is described and their catalytic activity against polyester substrates is compared.

Structural and functional studies on a thermostable polyethylene terephthalate degrading hydrolase from Thermobifida fusca.

Bacterial cutinases are promising catalysts for the modification and degradation of the widely used plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The improvement of the enzyme for industrial purposes is limited due to the lack of structural information for cutinases of bacterial origin. We have crystallized and structurally characterized a cutinase from Thermobifida fusca KW3 (TfCut2) in free as well as in inhibitor-bound form.

A high-throughput assay for enzymatic polyester hydrolysis activity by fluorimetric detection.

A fluorimetric assay for the fast determination of the activity of polyester-hydrolyzing enzymes in a large number of samples has been developed. Terephthalic acid (TPA) is a main product of the enzymatic hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a synthetic polyester. Terephthalate has been quantified following its conversion to the fluorescent 2-hydroxyterephthalate by an iron autoxidation-mediated generation of free hydroxyl radicals.

Hydrolysis of cyclic poly(ethylene terephthalate) trimers by a carboxylesterase from Thermobifida fusca KW3.

We have identified a carboxylesterase produced in liquid cultures of the thermophilic actinomycete Thermobifida fusca KW3 that were supplemented with poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers. The enzyme hydrolyzed highly hydrophobic, synthetic cyclic poly(ethylene terephthalate) trimers with an optimal activity at 60 degrees C and a pH of 6. V (max) and K (m) values for the hydrolysis were 9.

High level expression of a hydrophobic poly(ethylene terephthalate)-hydrolyzing carboxylesterase from Thermobifida fusca KW3 in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3).

The gram-positive thermophilic actinomycete Thermobifida fusca KW3 secretes a highly hydrophobic carboxylesterase (TfCa) that is able to hydrolyze poly(ethylene terephthalate). TfCa was produced in the Escherichia coli strain BL21(DE3) as a fusion protein consisting of a pelB leader sequence to ensure periplasmic localization of the protein and a His(6) tag for use in its purification. To enhance the recombinant enzyme yield, the tfca gene from T.