An estimated 311 million tons of plastics are produced annually worldwide; 90% of these are derived from petrol. A considerable portion of these plastics is used for packaging (such as drinking bottles), but only ~14% is collected for recycling. Most plastics degrade extremely slowly, thus constituting a major environmental hazard, especially in the oceans, where microplastics are a matter of major concern. One potential solution for this problem is the synthesis of degradable plastics from renewable resources. From the microbial consortium, the researchers isolated a unique bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 that could almost completely degrade a thin film of PET in a short span of six weeks at 30°C. The objective of the present study is to identify the ligands that may be exploited to improve catalysis and expand substrate specificity and thus significantly advance enzymatic plastic polymer degradation.
Keywords: Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6; MHET(monohydroxyethyl terephthalate hydrolase); Molecular docking; PET(Polyethylene terephthalate).
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