Engineered yeast for the efficient hydrolysis of polylactic acid.

Bioresour Technol

Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa. Electronic address:

Published: June 2023

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a major contributor to the global bioplastic production capacity. However, post-consumer PLA waste is not fully degraded during non-optimal traditional organic waste treatment processes and can persist in nature for many years. Efficient enzymatic hydrolysis of PLA would contribute to cleaner, more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly waste management processes. However, high costs and a lack of effective enzyme producers curtail the large-scale application of such enzymatic systems. This study reports the recombinant expression of a fungal cutinase-like enzyme (CLE1) in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which produced a crude supernatant that efficiently hydrolyses different types of PLA materials. The codon-optimised Y294[CLEns] strain delivered the best enzyme production and hydrolysis capabilities, releasing up to 9.44 g/L lactic acid from 10 g/L PLA films with more than 40% loss in film weight. This work highlights the potential of fungal hosts producing PLA hydrolases for future commercial applications in PLA recycling.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129008DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

polylactic acid
8
pla
7
engineered yeast
4
yeast efficient
4
efficient hydrolysis
4
hydrolysis polylactic
4
acid polylactic
4
acid pla
4
pla major
4
major contributor
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!