Abstract
Management of plastic waste is becoming a serious global environmental issue. Plastic pollution threatens a wide variety of ecosystems and brings damaging repercussions for many wildlife species. Polyethylene (PE) is a major petroleum-based plastic that has become indispensable in all aspects of modern life because of its many applications. PE is extremely resistant to natural biodegradation processes, resulting in its accumulation in the environment. Therefore, microorganism-mediated decomposition of PE is attracting attention as an ideal, sustainable method to reduce PE accumulation. In this review, we summarize capacities of various microbes (bacteria and fungi) to degrade PE, the physical products of PE degradation, and potential PE-degrading enzymes. Furthermore, we propose future directions for building PE-decomposition systems such as metabolons that use diverse enzymes to increase the activities and/or stabilities of potential PE degradable enzymes. Thus, this review article will contribute to developing PE-biodegradation systems using microbes and their biocatalysts.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Geyer, R. (2020) Production, use, and fate of synthetic polymers. pp. 13–32. In: T. M. Letcher (ed.). Plastic Waste and Recycling: Environmental Impact, Societal Issues, Prevention, and Solutions. Academic Press, London, UK.
Lee, Q. Y. and H. Li (2021) Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste: a mini review. Micromachines (Basel) 12: 907.
Gijsman, P. (2008) Review on the thermo-oxidative degradation of polymers during processing and in service. E-Polym. 8: 065.
Arhant, M., M. Le Gall, P.-Y. Le Gac, and P. Davies (2019) Impact of hydrolytic degradation on mechanical properties of PET - towards an understanding of microplastics formation. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 161: 175–182.
Garcia, J. M. and M. L. Robertson (2017) The future of plastics recycling. Science 358: 870–872.
Urbanek, A. K., W. Rymowicz, and A. M. Mirończuk (2018) Degradation of plastics and plastic-degrading bacteria in cold marine habitats. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 102: 7669–7678.
Fesseha, H. and F. Abebe (2019) Degradation of plastic materials using microorganisms: a review. Public Health (Fairfax) 4: 57–63.
Ghatge, S., Y. Yang, J.-H. Ahn, and H.-G. Hur (2020) Biodegradation of polyethylene: a brief review. Appl. Biol. Chem. 63: 27.
Lear, G., J. M. Kingsbury, S. Franchini, V. Gambarini, S. D. M. Maday, J. A. Wallbank, L. Weaver, and O. Pantos (2021) Plastics and the microbiome: impacts and solutions. Environ. Microbiome 16: 2.
Atanasova, N., S. Stoitsova, T. Paunova-Krasteva, and M. Kambourova (2021) Plastic degradation by extremophilic bacteria. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 22: 5610.
Zrimec, J., M. Kokina, S. Jonasson, F. Zorrilla, and A. Zelezniak (2021) Plastic-degrading potential across the global microbiome correlates with recent pollution trends. mBio 12: e0215521.
Zeenat, A. Elahi, D. A. Bukhari, S. Shamim, and A. Rehman (2021) Plastics degradation by microbes: a sustainable approach. J. King Saud Univ. Sci. 33: 101538.
Gambarini, V., O. Pantos, J. M. Kingsbury, L. Weaver, K. M. Handley, and G. Lear (2021) Phylogenetic distribution of plastic-degrading microorganisms. mSystems 6: e01112–20.
Cf, S. F., S. Rebello, E. M. Aneesh, R. Sindhu, P. Binod, S. Singh, and A. Pandey (2021) Bioprospecting of gut microflora for plastic biodegradation. Bioengineered 12: 1040–1053.
Gambarini, V., O. Pantos, J. M. Kingsbury, L. Weaver, K. M. Handley, and G. Lear (2022) PlasticDB: a database of microorganisms and proteins linked to plastic biodegradation. Database (Oxford) 2022: baac008.
Shilpa, N. Basak, and S. S. Meena (2022) Microbial biodegradation of plastics: challenges, opportunities, and a critical perspective. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 16: 161.
Abrusci, C., J. L. Pablos, T. Corrales, J. López-Marín, I. Marín, and F. Catalina (2011) Biodegradation of photo-degraded mulching films based on polyethylenes and stearates of calcium and iron as pro-oxidant additives. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 65: 451–459.
Yoon, H. K., S. T. Jung, J. H. Kim, and T. H. Yoo (2012) Recent development of highly sensitive protease assay methods: signal amplification through enzyme cascades. Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 17: 1113–1119.
Somasundaram, S., J. Jeong, G. Irisappan, T. W. Kim, and S. H. Hong (2020) Enhanced production of malic acid by co-localization of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and malate dehydrogenase using synthetic protein scaffold in Escherichia coli. Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 25: 39–44.
Tran, K.-N. T., A. Kumaravel, J. Jeong, and S. H. Hong (2022) High yield fermentation of L-serine in recombinant Escherichia coli via co-localization of SerB and EamA through protein scaffold. Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 27: 262–267.
Venkatesh, S., S. Mahboob, M. Govindarajan, K. A. Al-Ghanim, Z. Ahmed, N. Al-Mulhm, R. Gayathri, and S. Vijayalakshmi (2021) Microbial degradation of plastics: sustainable approach to tackling environmental threats facing big cities of the future. J. King Saud Univ. Sci. 33: 101362.
Srikanth, M., T. S. R. S. Sandeep, K. Sucharitha, and S. Godi (2022) Biodegradation of plastic polymers by fungi: a brief review. Bioresour. Bioprocess. 9: 42.
Botre, S., P. Jadhav, L. Saraf, K. Rau, and A. Wagle (2015) Screening and isolation of polyethylene degrading bacteria from various sources. Int. Res. J. Environ. Sci. 4: 58–61.
Pramila, R. and K. V. Ramesh (2015) Potential biodegradation of low density polyethylene (LDPE) by Acinetobacter baumannii. Afr. J. Bacteriol. Res. 7: 24–28.
Khandare, S. D., D. R. Chaudhary, and B. Jha (2021) Marine bacterial biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic. Biodegradation 32: 127–143.
Das, M. P. and S. Kumar (2015) An approach to low-density polyethylene biodegradation by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. 3 Biotech 5: 81–86.
Ibiene, A. A., H. O. Stanley, and O. M. Immanuel (2013) Biodegradation of polyethylene by Bacillus sp. indigenous to the Niger delta mangrove swamp. Niger. J. Biotechnol. 26: 68–79.
Harshvardhan, K. and B. Jha (2013) Biodegradation of low-density polyethylene by marine bacteria from pelagic waters, Arabian Sea, India. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 77: 100–106.
Vimala, P. P. and L. Mathew (2016) Biodegradation of polyethylene using Bacillus subtilis. Procedia Technol. 24: 232–239.
Gupta, K. K. and D. Devi (2019) Biodegradation of low density polyethylene by selected Bacillus sp. Gazi Univ. J. Sci. 32: 802–813.
Muhonja, C. N., H. Makonde, G. Magoma, and M. Imbuga (2018) Biodegradability of polyethylene by bacteria and fungi from Dandora dumpsite Nairobi-Kenya. PLoS One 13: e0198446.
Biki, S. P., S. Mahmud, S. Akhter, M. J. Rahman, J. J. Rix, M. A. Al Bachchu, and M. Ahmed (2021) Polyethylene degradation by Ralstonia sp. strain SKM2 and Bacillus sp. strain SM1 isolated from land fill soil site. Environ. Technol. Innov. 22: 101495.
Yang, J., Y. Yang, W.-M. Wu, J. Zhao, and L. Jiang (2014) Evidence of polyethylene biodegradation by bacterial strains from the guts of plastic-eating waxworms. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48: 13776–13784.
Samanta, S., D. Datta, and G. Halder (2020) Biodegradation efficacy of soil inherent novel sp. Bacillus tropicus (MK318648) onto low density polyethylene matrix. J. Polym. Res. 27: 324.
Liu, X., Y. Zhang, Q. Sun, Z. Liu, Y. Zhao, A. Fan, and H. Su (2022) Rapid colonization and biodegradation of untreated commercial polyethylene wrap by a new strain of Bacillus velezensis C5. J. Environ. Manage. 301: 113848.
Hadad, D., S. Geresh, and A. Sivan (2005) Biodegradation of polyethylene by the thermophilic bacterium Brevibacillus borstelensis. J. Appl. Microbiol. 98: 1093–1100.
Jeon, H. J. and M. N. Kim (2013) Isolation of a thermophilic bacterium capable of low-molecular-weight polyethylene degradation. Biodegradation 24: 89–98.
Peixoto, J., L. P. Silva, and R. H. Krüger (2017) Brazilian Cerrado soil reveals an untapped microbial potential for unpretreated polyethylene biodegradation. J. Hazard. Mater. 324: 634–644.
Ren, L., L. Men, Z. Zhang, F. Guan, J. Tian, B. Wang, J. Wang, Y. Zhang, and W. Zhang (2019) Biodegradation of polyethylene by Enterobacter sp. D1 from the guts of wax moth Galleria mellonella. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16: 1941.
Awasthi, S., P. Srivastava, P. Singh, D. Tiwary, and P. K. Mishra (2017) Biodegradation of thermally treated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) by Klebsiella pneumoniae CH001. 3 Biotech 7: 332.
Jeon, J.-M., S.-J. Park, T.-R. Choi, J.-H. Park, Y.-H. Yang, and J.-J. Yoon (2021) Biodegradation of polyethylene and polypropylene by Lysinibacillus species JJY0216 isolated from soil grove. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 191: 109662.
Li, Z., R. Wei, M. Gao, Y. Ren, B. Yu, K. Nie, H. Xu, and L. Liu (2020) Biodegradation of low-density polyethylene by Microbulbifer hydrolyticus IRE-31. J. Environ. Manage. 263: 110402.
Kathiresan, K. (2003) Polythene and plastic-degrading microbes in an Indian mangrove soil. Rev. Biol. Trop. 51: 629–633.
Bonhomme, S., A. Cuer, A.-M. Delort, J. Lemaire, M. Sancelme, and G. Scott (2003) Environmental biodegradation of polyethylene. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 81: 441–452.
Sarmah, P. and J. Rout (2018) Efficient biodegradation of low-density polyethylene by cyanobacteria isolated from submerged polyethylene surface in domestic sewage water. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 25: 33508–33520.
Bardají, D. K. R., J. P. R. Furlan, and E. G. Stehling (2019) Isolation of a polyethylene degrading Paenibacillus sp. from a landfill in Brazil. Arch. Microbiol. 201: 699–704.
Kyaw, B. M., R. Champakalakshmi, M. K. Sakharkar, C. S. Lim, and K. R. Sakharkar (2012) Biodegradation of low density polythene (LDPE) by Pseudomonas species. Indian J. Microbiol. 52: 411–419.
Jeon, H. J. and M. N. Kim (2015) Functional analysis of alkane hydroxylase system derived from Pseudomonas aeruginosa E7 for low molecular weight polyethylene biodegradation. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 103: 141–146.
Hou, L., J. Xi, J. Liu, P. Wang, T. Xu, T. Liu, W. Qu, and Y. B. Lin (2022) Biodegradability of polyethylene mulching film by two Pseudomonas bacteria and their potential degradation mechanism. Chemosphere 286: 131758.
Nourollahi, A., S. Sedighi-Khavidak, M. Mokhtari, G. Eslami, and M. Shiranian (2019) Isolation and identification of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) biodegrading bacteria from waste landfill in Yazd. Int. J. Environ. Stud. 76: 236–250.
Nanda, S., S. Sahu, and J. Abraham (2010) Studies on the biodegradation of natural and synthetic polyethylene by Pseudomonas spp. J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manag. 14: 57–60.
Orr, I. G., Y. Hadar, and A. Sivan (2004) Colonization, biofilm formation and biodegradation of polyethylene by a strain of Rhodococcus ruber. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 65: 97–104.
Sivan, A., M. Szanto, and V. Pavlov (2006) Biofilm development of the polyethylene-degrading bacterium Rhodococcus ruber. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 72: 346–352.
Azeko, S. T., G. A. Etuk-Udo, O. S. Odusanya, K. Malatesta, N. Anuku, and W. O. Soboyejo (2015) Biodegradation of linear low density polyethylene by Serratia marcescens subsp. marcescens and its cell free extracts. Waste Biomass Valorization 6: 1047–1057.
Divyalakshmi, S. and A. Subhashini (2016) Screening and isolation of polyethylene degrading bacteria from various soil environments. IOSR J. Environ. Sci. Toxicol. Food Technol. 10: 1–7.
Mohanan, N., Z. Montazer, P. K. Sharma, and D. B. Levin (2020) Microbial and enzymatic degradation of synthetic plastics. Front. Microbiol. 11: 580709.
Liu, Y., C. Li, L. Huang, Y. He, T. Zhao, B. Han, and X. Jia (2017) Combination of a crude oil-degrading bacterial consortium under the guidance of strain tolerance and a pilot-scale degradation test. Chin. J. Chem. Eng. 25: 1838–1846.
Medić, A., M. Lješević, H. Inui, V. Beškoski, I. Kojić, K. Stojanović, and I. Karadžić (2020) Efficient biodegradation of petroleum n-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by polyextremophilic Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai with multidegradative capacity. RSC Adv. 10: 14060–14070.
Contesini, F. J., R. R. Melo, and H. H. Sato (2018) An overview of Bacillus proteases: from production to application. Crit. Rev. Biotechnol. 38: 321–334.
Seneviratne, G., N. S. Tennakoon, M. L. M. A. W. Weerasekara, and K. A. Nandasena (2006) Polyethylene biodegradation by a developed Penicillium-Bacillus biofilm. Curr. Sci. 90: 20–21.
Sen, S. K. and S. Raut (2015) Microbial degradation of low density polyethylene (LDPE): a review. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 3: 462–473.
Arntzen, M. Ø., O. Bengtsson, A. Várnai, F. Delogu, G. Mathiesen, and V. G. H. Eijsink (2020) Quantitative comparison of the biomass-degrading enzyme repertoires of five filamentous fungi. Sci. Rep. 10: 20267.
Vaksmaa, A., V. Hernando-Morales, E. Zeghal, and H. Niemann (2021) Microbial degradation of marine plastics: current state and future prospects. pp. 111–154. In: S. J. Joshi (ed.). Biotechnology for Smtainable Environment. Springer, Singapore.
Kershaw, M. J. and N. J. Talbot (1998) Hydrophobins and repellents: proteins with fundamental roles in fungal morphogenesis. Fungal Genet. Biol. 23: 18–33.
Sowmya, H. V., B. Ramalingappa, G. Nayanashree, B. Thippeswamy, and M. Krishnappa (2015) Polyethylene degradation by fungal consortium. Int. J. Environ. Res. 9: 823–830.
Gao, R., R. Liu, and C. Sun (2022) A marine fungus Alternaria alternata FB1 efficiently degrades polyethylene. J. Hazard. Mater. 431: 128617.
Gajendiran, A., S. Krishnamoorthy, and J. Abraham (2016) Microbial degradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by Aspergillus clavatus strain JASK1 isolated from landfill soil. 3 Biotech 6: 52.
Alshehrei, F. (2017) Biodegradation of low density polyethylene by fungi isolated from Red Sea water. Int. J. Curr. Microbiol. Appl. Sci. 6: 1703–1709.
Rani, A., P. Singh, and R. Kumar (2020) Microbial deterioration of high-density polyethylene by selected microorganisms. J. Appl. Biol. Biotechnol. 8: 64–66.
Zahra, S., S. S. Abbas, M.-T. Mahsa, and N. Mohsen (2010) Biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by isolated fungi in solid waste medium. Waste Manag. 30: 396–401.
Khruengsai, S., T. Sripahco, and P. Pripdeevech (2021) Low-density polyethylene film biodegradation potential by fungal species from Thailand. J. Fungi (Basel) 7: 594.
Volke-Sepúlveda, T., G. Saucedo-Castañeda, M. Gutiérrez-Rojas, A. Manzur, and E. Favela-Torres (2002) Thermally treated low density polyethylene biodegradation by Penicillium pinophilum and Aspergillus niger. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 83: 305–314.
Munir, E., R. S. M. Harefa, N. Priyani, and D. Suryanto (2018) Plastic degrading fungi Trichoderma viride and Aspergillus nomius isolated from local landfill soil in Medan. IOP Conf. Ser. Earth Environ. Sci. 126: 012145.
Pramila, R. and K. V. Ramesh (2011) Biodegradation of low density polyethylene (LDPE) by fungi isolated from marine water- a SEM analysis. Afr. J. Microbiol. Res. 5: 5013–5018.
Sheik, S., K. R. Chandrashekar, K. Swaroop, and H. M. Somashekarappa (2015) Biodegradation of gamma irradiated low density polyethylene and polypropylene by endophytic fungi. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 105: 21–29.
Das, M. P. and S. Kumar (2014) Microbial deterioration of low density polyethylene by Aspergillus and Fusarium sp. Int. J. Chemtech Res. 6: 299–305.
Balasubramanian, V., K. Natarajan, V. Rajeshkannan, and P. Perumal (2014) Enhancement of in vitro high-density polyethylene (HDPE) degradation by physical, chemical, and biological treatments. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 21: 12549–12562.
Ojha, N., N. Pradhan, S. Singh, A. Barla, A. Shrivastava, P. Khatua, V. Rai, and S. Bose (2017) Evaluation of HDPE and LDPE degradation by fungus, implemented by statistical optimization. Sci. Rep. 7: 39515.
Yamada-Onodera, K., H. Mukumoto, Y. Katsuyaya, A. Saiganji, and Y. Tani (2001) Degradation of polyethylene by a fungus, Penicillium simplicissimum YK. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 72: 323–327.
Awasthi, S., N. Srivastava, T. Singh, D. Tiwary, and P. K. Mishra (2017) Biodegradation of thermally treated low density polyethylene by fungus Rhizopus oryzae NS 5. 3 Biotech 7: 73.
Paço, A., K. Duarte, J. P. da Costa, P. S. M. Santos, R. Pereira, M. E. Pereira, A. C. Freitas, A. C. Duarte, and T. A. P. Rocha-Santos (2017) Biodegradation of polyethylene microplastics by the marine fungus Zalerion maritimum. Sci. Total Environ. 586: 10–15.
Gulmine, J. V., P. R. Janissek, H. M. Heise, and L. Akcelrud (2002) Polyethylene characterization by FTIR. Polym. Test. 21:557–563.
Almond, J., P. Sugumaar, M. N. Wenzel, G. Hill, and C. Wallis (2020) Determination of the carbonyl index of polyethylene and polypropylene using specified area under band methodology with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. E-Polym. 20: 369–381.
Bredács, M., C. Barretta, L. F. Castillon, A. Frank, G. Oreski, G. Pinter, and S. Gergely (2021) Prediction of polyethylene density from FTIR and Raman spectroscopy using multivariate data analysis. Polym. Test. 104: 107406.
Montazer, Z., M. B. Habibi Najafi, and D. B. Levin (2020) Challenges with verifying microbial degradation of polyethylene. Polymers (Basel) 12: 123.
Park, S. Y. and C. G. Kim (2019) Biodegradation of micro-polyethylene particles by bacterial colonization of a mixed microbial consortium isolated from a landfill site. Chemosphere 222: 527–533.
Wang, P., T. Song, J. Bu, Y. Zhang, J. Liu, J. Zhao, T. Zhang, J. Xi, J. Xu, L. Li, and Y. Lin (2022) Does bacterial community succession within the polyethylene mulching film plastisphere drive biodegradation? Sci. Total Environ. 824: 153884.
Gao, R. and C. Sun (2021) A marine bacterial community capable of degrading poly(ethylene terephthalate) and polyethylene. J. Hazard. Mater. 416: 125928.
Esmaeili, A., A. A. Pourbabaee, H. A. Alikhani, F. Shabani, and L. Kumar (2014) Colonization and biodegradation of photo-oxidized low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by new strains of Aspergillus sp. and Lysinibacillus sp. Bioremediat. J. 18: 213–226.
Yin, C.-F., Y. Xu, and N.-Y. Zhou (2020) Biodegradation of polyethylene mulching films by a co-culture of Acinetobacter sp. strain NyZ450 and Bacillus sp. strain NyZ451 isolated from Tenebrio molitor larvae. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 155: 105089.
Yeom, S. J., T. K. Le, and C. H. Yun (2022) P450-driven plastic-degrading synthetic bacteria. Trends Biotechnol. 40: 166–179.
Jeon, H. J. and M. N. Kim (2016) Comparison of the functional characterization between alkane monooxygenases for low-molecular-weight polyethylene biodegradation. Int. Biodeterior. Biodegradation 114: 202–208.
Hou, L. and E. L. W. Majumder (2021) Potential for and distribution of enzymatic biodegradation of polystyrene by environmental microorganisms. Materials (Basel) 14: 503.
Sudheer, P. D. V. N., J. Yun, S. Chauhan, T. J. Kang, and K.-Y. Choi (2017) Screening, expression, and characterization of Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases for the production of 9-(nonanoyloxy)nonanoic acid from oleic acid. Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 22: 717–724.
Park, S.-T., K. Min, Y. S. Choi, and Y. J. Yoo (2012) Screening of stable cutinase from Fusarium solani pisi using plasmid display system. Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 17: 506–511.
Woo, J.-M., Y.-S. Kang, S.-M. Lee, S. Park, and J.-B. Park (2022) Substrate-binding site engineering of Candida antarctica lipase B to improve selectivity for synthesis of 1-monoacyl-snglycerols. Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 27: 234–243.
Schwibbert, K., F. Menzel, N. Epperlein, J. Bonse, and J. Krüger (2019) Bacterial adhesion on femtosecond laser-modified polyethylene. Materials (Basel) 12: 3107.
Guo, S., I. Alshamy, K. T. Hughes, and F. F. V. Chevance (2014) Analysis of factors that affect FlgM-dependent type III secretion for protein purification with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. J. Bacteriol. 196: 2333–2347.
Behrendorff, J. B. Y. H., G. Borràs-Gas, and M. Pribil (2020) Synthetic protein scaffolding at biological membranes. Trends Biotechnol. 38: 432–446.
Ricca, E., B. Brucher, and J. H. Schrittwieser (2011) Multi-enzymatic cascade reactions: overview and perspectives. Adv. Synth. Catal. 353: 2239–2262.
France, S. P., L. J. Hepworth, N. J. Turner, and S. L. Flitsch (2017) Constructing biocatalytic cascades: in vitro and in vivo approaches to de novo multi-enzyme pathways. ACS Catal. 7: 710–724.
Schrittwieser, J. H., S. Velikogne, M. Hall, and W. Kroutil (2018) Artificial biocatalytic linear cascades for preparation of organic molecules. Chem. Rev. 118: 270–348.
Kuska, J. and E. O’Reilly (2020) Engineered biosynthetic pathways and biocatalytic cascades for sustainable synthesis. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 58: 146–154.
Seo, M.-J. and C. Schmidt-Dannert (2021) Organizing multienzyme systems into programmable materials for biocatalysis. Catalysts 11: 409.
Gad, S. and S. Ayakar (2021) Protein scaffolds: a tool for multi-enzyme assembly. Biotechnol. Rep. (Amst.) 32: e00670.
Wang, P., X. Zhang, Y. Tao, X. Lv, S. Cheng, and C. Liu (2022) Improved l-phenylglycine synthesis by introducing an engineered cofactor self-sufficient system. Synth. Syst. Biotechnol. 7: 513–521.
Liu, Y., D. P. Hickey, J.-Y. Guo, E. Earl, S. Abdellaoui, R. D. Milton, M. S. Sigman, S. D. Minteer, and S. C. Barton (2017) Substrate channeling in an artificial metabolon: a molecular dynamics blueprint for an experimental peptide bridge. ACS Catal. 7: 2486–2493.
Kang, W., T. Ma, M. Liu, J. Qu, Z. Liu, H. Zhang, B. Shi, S. Fu, J. Ma, L. T. F. Lai, S. He, J. Qu, S. Wing-Ngor Au, B. Ho Kang, W. C. Yu Lau, Z. Deng, J. Xia, and T. Liu (2019) Modular enzyme assembly for enhanced cascade biocatalysis and metabolic flux. Nat. Commun. 10: 4248.
Dueber, J. E., G. C. Wu, G. R. Malmirchegini, T. S. Moon, C. J. Petzold, A. V. Ullal, K. L. Prather, and J. D. Keasling (2009) Synthetic protein scaffolds provide modular control over metabolic flux. Nat. Biotechnol. 27: 753–759.
Hirakawa, H. and T. Nagamune (2010) Molecular assembly of P450 with ferredoxin and ferredoxin reductase by fusion to PCNA. Chembiochem 11: 1517–1520.
Keeble, A. H. and M. Howarth (2020) Power to the protein: enhancing and combining activities using the Spy toolbox. Chem. Sci. 11: 7281–7291.
Veggiani, G., T. Nakamura, M. D. Brenner, R. V. Gayet, J. Yan, C. V. Robinson, and M. Howarth (2016) Programmable polyproteams built using twin peptide superglues. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 113: 1202–1207.
Acknowledgements
This paper was supported by the Enzyme engineering for next generation biorefinery (NRF-2022M3J5A1056169 and NRF-2022M3J5A1085239) from National Research Foundation (NRF) and NRF grant (NRF-2020R1C1C1004178 and NRF-2022R1C1C2003774) supported by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Neither ethical approval nor informed consent was required for this study.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Seo, MJ., Yun, SD., Kim, HW. et al. Polyethylene-biodegrading Microbes and Their Future Directions. Biotechnol Bioproc E 28, 977–989 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-022-0264-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-022-0264-9