This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Researchers from Aarhus University and the Danish Technological Institute have taken a new approach in the search for enzymes capable of breaking down some of the most difficult types of plastic to recycle. They collected millions of bacteria from a landfill in Kenya, Randers Regnskov Tropical Zoo, the guts of larvae and a compost heap near Aarhus—and examined their enzymes.
We might as well jump straight to the conclusion: The best candidate came from the compost heap. And the researchers are now busy improving the enzyme's ability to break down polyurethane and nylon. The new approach chosen by the researchers is known as bioprospecting.
It involves searching nature for biological organisms and genetic material that can be used in research and industry. See the fact box below the press release. This is the first time bioprospecting has been carried out on such a large scale and across such a broad range of environments to find enzymes capable of breaking down polyurethane (PUR) and nylon.
Both types of plastic are notoriously difficult to degrade. More on that at the end of the article. The conventional approach to finding this kind of plastic-degrading enzyme is to search genome databases.
More specifically, researchers look for gene sequences that resemble those found in enzymes already known to be suitable for the task. Plastic-degrading enzymes have been found using conventional methods. But, to borrow from an old joke, it is a bit like looking for a lost key under a streetlamp because that is where the light is—rather than where you actually dropped it.
The idea of traveling out into the world came to Andreas Møllebjerg when he was about to take up a postdoctoral position at what was then the Interdisciplinary Nano Science Center (iNANO) at Aarhus University—more specifically, on a new research project investigating the ability of natural enzymes to break down plastic. "I suggested looking for suitable enzymes in warm places because bacteria thrive and grow well there all year round. And preferably somewhere plastic has been present for a long time.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
