SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: BIOTECHNOLOGY
oil to make numerous everyday products and offers an
attractive alternative to burning crop wastes, further
helping to reduce CO 2
emissions.
The research team comprised international experts
in structural biology, biochemistry, quantum chemistry
and synthetic biology at the universities of
Portsmouth, Montana State, Georgia, and California,
and NREL.
The Diamond Light Source synchrotron was also
again crucial. Dan Hinchen, a postgraduate student at
the University of Portsmouth explains: “We used X-ray
crystallography at the synchrotron to solve 10 enzyme
structures that were bound to lignin. This gave us
the blueprint to engineer an enzyme to work on new
molecules. Our colleagues were then able to transfer
the DNA code for this new enzyme into an industrial
strain of bacteria, extending the enzyme’s capability to
perform multiple reactions.”
Professor McGeehan says the researchers now
have proof of principle that this class of enzymes can
be engineered to tackle some of the most challenging
lignin-based molecules as a precursor to developing
biological tools for converting waste into valuable and
sustainable materials.”
PETase is a
bacterial enzyme
that breaks
down PET plastic
to monomeric
molecules.
The biological
breakdown
process yields
terephthalic acid
and ethylene
glycol, which
can be reused
as an alternative
to oil and gas
feedstocks.
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