Microplastics

Oikopleura can ingest microplastics and participate to their sedimentation (Katija and coll., 2017, Choy and coll., 2019).

PETase

To read: A bacterium that degrades and assimilates poly(ethylene terephthalate) Shosuke Yoshida1,2,*, Kazumi Hiraga1, Toshihiko Takehana3, Ikuo Taniguchi4, Hironao Yamaji1, Yasuhito Maeda5, Kiyotsuna Toyohara5, Kenji Miyamoto2,†, Yoshiharu Kimura4, Kohei Oda1,† Science 11 Mar 2016: Vol. 351, Issue 6278, pp. 1196-1199 DOI: 10.1126/science.aad6359

To do: read Furukawa M, Kawakami N, Oda K, Miyamoto K (2018) Acceleration of enzymatic degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) by surface coating with anionic surfactants. Chem Sus Chem 11: 4018–4025

Hiraga, Taniguchi, Yoshida, Kimura and Oda K proposed in 2019 that PET-degrading organisms can be the foundation for a biological recycling of plastic. They also underlined that salt-tolerating enzymes would be needed for bioremediation of oceans.

Knott and coll, 2020 showed that a chimeric MHETase:PETase protein is more efficient than the two free enzymes.

RSS Atom

Eva Jimenez Guri, Periklis Paganos, Claudia La Vecchia, Giovanni Annona, Filomena Caccavale, M Dolores Molina, Alfonso Ferrandez-Roldan, Rory Daniel Donnellan, Federica Salatiello, Adam N Johnstone, Maria Concetta Eliso, Antonietta Spagnuolo, Cristian Canestro, Ricard Albalat, Jose M Martin-Duran, Elisabeth A Williams, Enrico D'Aniello, Maria Ina Arnone.

bioRxiv 2024.01.10.574808; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.10.574808

O. dioica's development less affected by leachates than other tested animals.

Knott BC, Erickson E, Allen MD, Gado JE, Graham R, Kearns FL, Pardo I, Topuzlu E, Anderson JJ, Austin HP, Dominick G, Johnson CW, Rorrer NA, Szostkiewicz CJ, Copié V, Payne CM, Woodcock HL, Donohoe BS, Beckham GT, McGeehan JE.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Oct 13;117(41):25476-25485. doi:10.1073/pnas.2006753117

Characterization and engineering of a two-enzyme system for plastics depolymerization.

“No MHETase activity was detected for [mono(2-hydroxyethyl)-isophthalate (MHEI) and mono(2-hydroxyethyl)-furanoate (MHEF)].” “Degradation scales with PETase loading and the presence of MHETase, even at low concentrations relative to PETase, improves total degradation.” “Chimeric proteins covalently linking the C terminus of MHETase to the N terminus of PETase, using flexible glycine-serine linkers of 8, 12, and 20 total glycine and serine residues, were generated.” “When comparing the extent of degradation achieved by PETase alone, MHETase alone, and an equimolar mix of PETase and MHETase, the chimeric proteins outperform PETase, as well as the mixed reaction containing both PETase and MHETase unlinked in solution.”

EMBO Rep. 2019 Nov 5;20(11):e49365. doi:10.15252/embr.201949365

Hiraga K, Taniguchi I, Yoshida S, Kimura Y, Oda K

Biodegradation of waste PET: A sustainable solution for dealing with plastic pollution.

Cites that “the use of surfactants can enhance PET degradation at least by a factor of 120”. Points that “isolation and analysis of other PET‐degrading organisms and enzymes from high‐salt environment are also important for the biodegradation of waste PET directly in the ocean”.

Choy CA, Robison BH, Gagne TO, Erwin B, Firl E, Halden RU, Hamilton JA, Katija K, Lisin SE, Rolsky C, S Van Houtan K.

Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 6;9(1):7843. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-44117-2.

The vertical distribution and biological transport of marine microplastics across the epipelagic and mesopelagic water column.

“The number of microplastic particles contained within a [Bathochordaeus] sinker ranged from 3 to 17 (mean 10.7 microplastic particles ± 5.3 particles standard deviation).”

Sci Adv. 2017 Aug 16;3(8):e1700715. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1700715

Katija K, Choy CA, Sherlock RE, Sherman AD, Robison BH.

From the surface to the seafloor: How giant larvaceans transport microplastics into the deep sea.

B. stygius fed with microplastic particles.