The discovery of plastic made many things easier, especially for industry. However, as it is a material that takes hundreds of years to decompose, the planet will be seriously threatened by its excess. However, recent research indicates that some microbes eat plastic and can alleviate this problem.
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Global plastic production reached 367 million tons in 2020. However, most of this material ends up in the trash, which is a nuisance. There are even marine species suffering from the ingestion of this compound.
Possible alternative to excess litter: some microbes have learned to digest plastic
A group of Japanese scientists discovered that some types of microorganisms have an enzyme capable of digesting plastic. That is, these beings can help to end the excess of this material in the world.
Some species of bacteria have enzymes that are useful for breaking down plastic, but they still need undergo further studies to alleviate the problem of PET compounds (polyethylene terephthalate).
Can any bacteria digest plastic?
It is not yet certain whether any species of bacteria can use plastic as part of their diet. However, a team from the Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan, discovered that a strain of the bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 managed to proliferate in pieces of PET and also degraded the material.
This species uses two enzymes to carry out this process, petase and metase. In this sense, the strain of Ideonella was able to degrade a thin plastic film, weighing 60 micrograms, in six weeks.
A group at the University of Portsmouth managed to create a “super enzyme” by joining petase with metase in 2020. In this way, the new protein was able to devour the PET at a speed six times greater than the two enzymes separately.
Other groups of researchers also found encouraging results with other enzymes. Furthermore, it seems that as time goes by, there are more and more species of microorganisms capable of digesting plastic.
Could these enzymes be the great solution to solve the plastic issue?
In principle, this is not a completely effective solution, since there are other types of plastic, including denser and stronger ones. However, the identified enzymes can help reduce the negative impact of plastics spread around the world, given that several studies are being carried out to improve their use.