One-Pot Depolymerization of Mixed Plastics Using a Dual Enzyme System.

As global plastic consumption and littering escalate, innovative approaches to sustainable waste management are crucial. Enzymatic depolymerization has emerged as a promising recycling method for polyesters via monomer recovery under mild conditions. However, current research mainly focuses on using a single plastic feedstock, which can only be derived from complex and costly plastic waste sorting.

Improved recombinant expression of soluble cathepsin B and L in Escherichia coli.

Cysteine cathepsins such as cathepsin B and L play an important role in numerous diseases like acute pancreatitis or SARS-CoV-2 and therefore have high potential for the development of new therapeutics. To be able to screen for potent and selective inhibitors sufficient amounts of protein are required. Here, we present an easy and efficient protocol for the recombinant expression of soluble and active murine cathepsin B and L.

Structural and Functional Characterization of an Amidase Targeting a Polyurethane for Sustainable Recycling.

Global plastic production exceeded 400 million tons in 2022, urgently demanding improved waste management and recycling strategies for a circular plastic economy. While the enzymatic hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has become feasible on industrial scales, efficient enzymes targeting other hydrolyzable plastic types, such as polyurethanes (PURs), are lacking. Recently, enzymes of the amidase signature (AS) family, capable of cleaving urethane bonds in a polyether-PUR analog and a linear polyester-PUR, have been identified.

Structure Prediction and Computational Protein Design for Efficient Biocatalysts and Bioactive Proteins.

The ability to predict and design protein structures has led to numerous applications in medicine, diagnostics and sustainable chemical manufacture. In addition, the wealth of predicted protein structures has advanced our understanding of how life's molecules function and interact. Honouring the work that has fundamentally changed the way scientists research and engineer proteins, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024 was awarded to David Baker for computational protein design and jointly to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, who developed AlphaFold for machine-learning-based protein structure prediction.

Two-step biocatalytic conversion of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate into value-added products facilitated by genetic and bioprocess engineering.

Solving the plastic crisis requires high recycling quotas and technologies that allow open loop recycling. Here a biological plastic valorization approach consisting of tandem enzymatic hydrolysis and monomer conversion of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate into value-added products is presented. Hydrolysates obtained from enzymatic degradation of pre-treated post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate bottles in a stirred-tank reactor served as the carbon source for a batch fermentation with an engineered Pseudomonas putida strain to produce 90mg/L of the biopolymer cyanophycin.