TY - JOUR
T1 - A general route to retooling hydrolytic enzymes toward plastic degradation
AU - Meza Huaman, Susana M.
AU - Nicholson, Jake H.
AU - Brogan, Alex P.S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank King’s College London for financial support (in particular the Biological Physics Across Scales Centre for Doctoral Training for providing support for S.M.M.H.). The authors also thank Diamond Light Source for access to the B23 beamline, Yiying He for helping to run HPLC samples, Seema Bosor, Tara Karavadra, Antonio De Chellis, and Prof. Shishir Chundawat for their contributions to the preliminary data, and Dr. Colleen Loynachan for invaluable discussion and feedback on the manuscript.
Funding Information:
The authors thank King's College London for financial support (in particular the Biological Physics Across Scales Centre for Doctoral Training for providing support for S.M.M.H.). The authors also thank Diamond Light Source for access to the B23 beamline, Yiying He for helping to run HPLC samples, Seema Bosor, Tara Karavadra, Antonio De Chellis, and Prof. Shishir Chundawat for their contributions to the preliminary data, and Dr. Colleen Loynachan for invaluable discussion and feedback on the manuscript. S.M.M.H. designed and carried out the experiments, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. J.H.N. helped design the experiments and provided feedback on analyses. A.P.S.B. conceived the idea, helped plan the experiments, aided discussion, and edited the manuscript. All authors have approved the final manuscript. The authors declare no competing interests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s)
PY - 2024/2/21
Y1 - 2024/2/21
N2 - The accumulation of plastic waste in the environment is an ecological disaster that requires a plurality of approaches to tackle. There is therefore an ever-pressing need to close the loop on production of both conventional and bioderived plastics. In response, we propose a generalizable biocatalysis engineering strategy to enhance the use of enzymes to depolymerize a broad class of plastics. To demonstrate this approach, we have solubilized and stabilized the commonly available lipase B from Candida antarctica in ionic liquids. In doing so, we unlock the ability of the enzyme to hydrolytically depolymerize post-consumer poly(lactic acid) plastic, demonstrating full degradation within 24 h and full conversion to monomer within 40 h at 90°C. This facile and scalable modification strategy allows for elevated operation temperatures in combination with the superior solvent capabilities of ionic liquids, providing a blueprint for enhancing the capability of any hydrolytic enzyme for plastic recycling.
AB - The accumulation of plastic waste in the environment is an ecological disaster that requires a plurality of approaches to tackle. There is therefore an ever-pressing need to close the loop on production of both conventional and bioderived plastics. In response, we propose a generalizable biocatalysis engineering strategy to enhance the use of enzymes to depolymerize a broad class of plastics. To demonstrate this approach, we have solubilized and stabilized the commonly available lipase B from Candida antarctica in ionic liquids. In doing so, we unlock the ability of the enzyme to hydrolytically depolymerize post-consumer poly(lactic acid) plastic, demonstrating full degradation within 24 h and full conversion to monomer within 40 h at 90°C. This facile and scalable modification strategy allows for elevated operation temperatures in combination with the superior solvent capabilities of ionic liquids, providing a blueprint for enhancing the capability of any hydrolytic enzyme for plastic recycling.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85185244921&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.101783
DO - 10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.101783
M3 - Article
SN - 2666-3864
VL - 5
JO - Cell Reports Physical Science
JF - Cell Reports Physical Science
IS - 2
M1 - 101783
ER -