Enzymes Involved in Plastic Degradation

Abstract

The global increase in production of plastic and accumulation in the environment is becoming a major concern especially to the aquatic life. This is due to the natural resistance of plastic to both physical and chemical degradation. Lack of biodegradability of plastic polymers is linked to, amongst other factors, the mobility of the polymers in the crystalline part of the polyesters as they are responsible for enzyme interaction. There are significantly few catabolic enzymes that are active in breaking down polyesters which are the constituents of plastic. The synthetic polymers widely used in petroleum-based plastics include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinylchloride (PVC), polyurethane (PUR), polystyrene (PS), polyamide (PA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) being the ones used mostly. Polymers with heteroatomic backbone such as PET and PUR are easier to degrade than the straight carbon-carbon backbone polymers such as PE, PP, PS and PVC.

Fungal Enzymes Involved in Plastics Biodegradation

“…The fungal enzymes involved in PVC biodegradation are currently not well known [178,[214][215][216].…”

“…Although some studies have reported fungi involved in PS biodegradation, research describing fungal enzymes involved in this process are scarce [25,215]. Only an esterase produced by Lentinus tigrinus has been reported to biodegrade PS film into non-toxic smaller molecules [240].…”