Structure-Guided Engineering of a Versatile Urethanase Improves Its Polyurethane Depolymerization Activity.

ABSTRACT: Polyurethane (PUR), the fifth most prevalent synthetic polymer, substantially contributes to the global plastic waste problem. Biotechnology-based recycling methods have recently emerged as innovative solutions to plastic waste disposal and sparked interest among scientific communities and industrial stakeholders in discovering and designing highly active plastic-degrading enzymes. Here, the ligand-free crystal structure of UMG-SP2, a metagenome-derived urethanase with depolymerization activities, at 2.59 Å resolution, as well as its (co-)structures bound to a suicide hydrolase inhibitor and a short-chain carbamate substrate at 2.16 and 2.40 Å resolutions, respectively, is reported. Structural analysis and molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the flexible loop L3 consisting of residu

SUBMITTER: Li Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11967865 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature