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Journal Article

Using a marine microalga as a chassis for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation

MPS-Authors

Senger,  Jana
Understanding and Building Metabolism, Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Max Planck Society;

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Zarzycki,  Jan
Understanding and Building Metabolism, Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Max Planck Society;

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Erb,  Tobias J.
Understanding and Building Metabolism, Department of Biochemistry and Synthetic Metabolism, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Moog, D., Schmitt, J., Senger, J., Zarzycki, J., Rexer, K.-H., Linne, U., et al. (2019). Using a marine microalga as a chassis for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation. MICROBIAL CELL FACTORIES, 18(1): 171. doi:10.1186/s12934-019-1220-z.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0008-BEF0-3
Abstract
Background: The biological degradation of plastics is a promising method
to counter the increasing pollution of our planet with artificial
polymers and to develop eco-friendly recycling strategies. Polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) is a thermoplast industrially produced from fossil
feedstocks since the 1940s, nowadays prevalently used in bottle
packaging and textiles. Although established industrial processes for
PET recycling exist, large amounts of PET still end up in the
environment-a significant portion thereof in the world's oceans. In
2016, Ideonella sakaiensis, a bacterium possessing the ability to
degrade PET and use the degradation products as a sole carbon source for
growth, was isolated. I. sakaiensis expresses a key enzyme responsible
for the breakdown of PET into monomers: PETase. This hydrolase might
possess huge potential for the development of biological PET degradation
and recycling processes as well as bioremediation approaches of
environmental plastic waste.
Results: Using the photosynthetic microalga Phaeodactylum tricornutum as
a chassis we generated a microbial cell factory capable of producing and
secreting an engineered version of PETase into the surrounding culture
medium. Initial degradation experiments using culture supernatant at 30
degrees C showed that PETase possessed activity against PET and the
copolymer polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) with an approximately
80-fold higher turnover of low crystallinity PETG compared to bottle
PET. Moreover, we show that diatom produced PETase was active against
industrially shredded PET in a saltwater-based environment even at
mesophilic temperatures (21 degrees C). The products resulting from the
degradation of the PET substrate were mainly terephthalic acid (TPA) and
mono(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalic acid (MHET) estimated to be formed in
the micromolar range under the selected reaction conditions.
Conclusion: We provide a promising and eco-friendly solution for
biological decomposition of PET waste in a saltwater-based environment
by using a eukaryotic microalga instead of a bacterium as a model
system. Our results show that via synthetic biology the diatom P.
tricornutum indeed could be converted into a valuable chassis for
biological PET degradation. Overall, this proof of principle study
demonstrates the potential of the diatom system for future
biotechnological applications in biological PET degradation especially
for bioremediation approaches of PET polluted seawater.