Novel putative polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic degrading enzymes from the environmental metagenome.

ABSTRACT: Several plastic degrading enzymes have been described in the literature, most notably PETases that are capable of hydrolyzing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. One of them, the PETase from Ideonella sakaiensis, a bacterium isolated from environmental samples within a PET bottle recycling site, was a subject of extensive studies. To test how widespread PETase functionality is in other bacterial communities, we used a cascade of BLAST searches in the JGI metagenomic datasets and showed that close homologs of I. sakaiensis PETase can also be found in other metagenomic environmental samples from both human-affected and relatively pristine sites. To confirm their classification as putative PETases, we verified that the newly identified proteins have the PETase sequence signatures common

SUBMITTER: Karunatillaka I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9524616 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature