New Insights into the Function and Global Distribution of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)-Degrading Bacteria and Enzymes in Marine and Terrestrial Metagenomes

• Published in: Applied and environmental microbiology Vol. 84; no. 8; p. e02773-17
• Main Authors: Danso, Dominik, Schmeisser, Christel, Chow, Jennifer, Zimmermann, Wolfgang, Wei, Ren, Leggewie, Christian, Li, Xiangzhen, Hazen, Terry, Streit, Wolfgang R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Microbiology 15.04.2018
• Subjects: Actinobacteria; Algorithms; Amino acids; Bacteria; Bacteroidetes; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Biodegradation; Clustering; Crude oil; Data processing; Degradation; Enzymes; Gene expression; Genes; Genomes; Hydrolase; Marine environment; Microorganisms; Polyethylene; Polyethylene terephthalate; Polymers; Proteobacteria; Search algorithms; polyethylene terephthalate (PET); PET degradation; metagenome; TPA; hydrolases; HMM; BHET; metagenomes; metagenomic screening

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most important synthetic polymers used today. Unfortunately, the polymers accumulate in nature and to date no highly active enzymes are known that can degrade it at high velocity. Enzymes involved in PET degradation are mainly α- and β-hydrolases, like...