Characterization and engineering of plastic-degrading polyesterases jmPE13 and jmPE14 from Pseudomonas bacterium

Xiaoli Zhou; Xianmin Zhou; Zhiqiang Xu; Mingxia Zhang; Honghui Zhu

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1349010

Characterization and engineering of plastic-degrading polyesterases jmPE13 and jmPE14 from Pseudomonas bacterium

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024 Feb 14:12:1349010. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1349010. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Xiaoli Zhou¹, Xianmin Zhou¹, Zhiqiang Xu¹, Mingxia Zhang¹, Honghui Zhu¹

Affiliation

¹ Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiomics and Precision Application (MARA), Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiome (MARA), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Polyester plastics are widely used in daily life, but also cause a large amount of waste. Degradation by microbial enzymes is the most promising way for the biobased upcycling of the wastes. However, there is still a shortage of high-performance enzymes, and more efficient polyester hydrolases need to be developed. Here we identified two polyester hydrolases, jmPE13 and jmPE14, from a previously isolated strain Pseudomonas sp. JM16B3. The proteins were recombinantly expressed and purified in E. coli, and their enzymatic properties were characterized. JmPE13 and jmPE14 showed hydrolytic activity towards polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) at medium temperatures. The enzyme activity and stability of jmPE13 were further improved to 3- and 1.5-fold, respectively, by rational design. The results of our research can be helpful for further engineering of more efficient polyester plastic hydrolases and their industrial applications.

Keywords: PBAT; PET; enzyme engineering; hydrolase; polyester.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Seed Industry Revitalization Project of Special Funds for Provincial Rural Revitalization Strategy in 2022 (2022-440000-4301030403-9538); Guangdong Special Support Program (2021JC06N628); Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2022A1515011013); the GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (2022GDASZH-2022010201).