Current advances in the structural biology and molecular engineering of PETase

Fei Liu; Tao Wang; Wentao Yang; Yingkang Zhang; Yuming Gong; Xinxin Fan; Guocheng Wang; Zhenhua Lu; Jianmin Wang

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1263996

Current advances in the structural biology and molecular engineering of PETase

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Sep 19:11:1263996. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1263996. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Fei Liu^#¹, Tao Wang¹, Wentao Yang^#¹, Yingkang Zhang^#¹, Yuming Gong^#¹, Xinxin Fan^#¹, Guocheng Wang^#¹, Zhenhua Lu², Jianmin Wang³

Affiliations

¹ School of Biological Science, Jining Medical University, Rizhao, China.
² College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
³ School of Pharmacy, Jining Medical University, Rizhao, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a highly useful synthetic polyester plastic that is widely used in daily life. However, the increase in postconsumer PET as plastic waste that is recalcitrant to biodegradation in landfills and the natural environment has raised worldwide concern. Currently, traditional PET recycling processes with thermomechanical or chemical methods also result in the deterioration of the mechanical properties of PET. Therefore, it is urgent to develop more efficient and green strategies to address this problem. Recently, a novel mesophilic PET-degrading enzyme (IsPETase) from Ideonella sakaiensis was found to streamline PET biodegradation at 30°C, albeit with a lower PET-degrading activity than chitinase or chitinase-like PET-degrading enzymes. Consequently, the molecular engineering of more efficient PETases is still required for further industrial applications. This review details current knowledge on IsPETase, MHETase, and IsPETase-like hydrolases, including the structures, ligand‒protein interactions, and rational protein engineering for improved PET-degrading performance. In particular, applications of the engineered catalysts are highlighted, including metabolic engineering of the cell factories, enzyme immobilization or cell surface display. The information is expected to provide novel insights for the biodegradation of complex polymers.

Keywords: IsPETase; MHETase; Poly(ethylene terephthalate); biodegradation; protein engineering.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors express their gratitude to the Shandong Provincial University Youth Innovation Team, China (No. 2022KJ102), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32000194), and the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2017BC098).