Poster Presentation 49th Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function 2024

Engineering of a broad-spectrum bioplastic degrading enzyme (#417)

Santana Royan 1 , Yvonne Joho 1 , Albert Ardevol 1 , Alex Caputo 1 , Evelin Pandiamakkal 2
  1. CSIRO Advanced Engineering Biology Future Science Platform, Canberra, ACT, Australia
  2. Manufacturing, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Clayton, VIC, Australia

The issue of plastic waste has become one of the most prevalent subjects in the global discussion of ecology and the environment. The use of bioplastics is one emerging method to address this issue1. Lip1 is an intracellular lipase from Pseudomonas chlororaphis PA23 capable of degrading several types of bioplastics, including polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactic acid (PLA), and polyethylene succinate (PES)2. Several protein engineering techniques have been used to produce an enzyme with increased thermostability. Here we describe the impact of the engineered mutations on the expression, stability, and activity on various substrates as well as postulate on the use of these enzymes in the development of a circular economy.

  1. Rosenboom, J.-G., R. Langer, and G. Traverso, Bioplastics for a circular economy. Nature Reviews Materials, 2022. 7(2): p. 117-137.
  2. Mohanan, N., et al., Characterization of Polymer Degrading Lipases, LIP1 and LIP2 From Pseudomonas chlororaphis PA23. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2022. 10.