Tech
Scientists develop plastic-eating enzyme
An international team of scientists has engineered an enzyme that eats plastic.
It is a world first in an effort to find a solution for the 300m tonnes of plastic produced every year.
A bacteria discovered recently in a Japanese recycling plant feeds on the world’s most common plastic known as PET.
The scientists wanted to study how it worked, but accidentally sped it up.
Read also: NASA to begin search for 20,000 exoplanets with launch of new satellite
“We actually thought we were making the enzyme slower by changing a few amino acids but actually we’ve made it faster,” said Professor John McGeehan, X-Ray crystallographer at the University of Portsmouth.
“We’ve made an improved version of the enzyme better than the natural one already. That’s really exciting because that means that there’s potential to optimise the enzyme even further.”
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