Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy

Manuel Salvador; Umar Abdulmutalib; Jaime Gonzalez; Juhyun Kim; Alex A. Smith; Jean-Loup Faulon; Ren Wei; Wolfgang Zimmermann; Jose I. Jimenez

doi:10.3390/genes10050373

Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy

Manuel Salvador, Umar Abdulmutalib, Jaime Gonzalez, Juhyun Kim, Alex A. Smith, Jean-Loup Faulon, Ren Wei, Wolfgang Zimmermann, Jose I. Jimenez

PMO General

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Plastics have become an important environmental concern due to their durability and resistance to degradation. Out of all plastic materials, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are amenable to biological degradation due to the action of microbial polyester hydrolases. The hydrolysis products obtained from PET can thereby be used for the synthesis of novel PET as well as become a potential carbon source for microorganisms. In addition, microorganisms and biomass can be used for the synthesis of the constituent monomers of PET from renewable sources. The combination of both biodegradation and biosynthesis would enable a completely circular bio-PET economy beyond the conventional recycling processes. Circular strategies like this could contribute to significantly decreasing the environmental impact of our dependence on this polymer. Here we review the efforts made towards turning PET into a viable feedstock for microbial transformations. We highlight current bottlenecks in degradation of the polymer and metabolism of the monomers, and we showcase fully biological or semisynthetic processes leading to the synthesis of PET from sustainable substrates.

Original language	English
Journal	Genes
Volume	10
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10050373
Publication status	Published - 16 May 2019

Keywords

plastics
biodegradation
sustainability
upcycling
biotransformations
polyethylene terephthalate
terephthalate
ethylene glycol

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

Manchester Institute of Biotechnology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.3390/genes10050373

Towards a Bio-based Manufacturing Platform for High Strength Aramid Synthetic Fibres Using Synthetic Biology.
Scrutton, N., Faulon, J., Hay, S. & Yeates, S.
31/05/16 → 30/05/19
Project: Research
Manchester Synthetic Biology Research Centre for Fine and Speciality Chemicals
Scrutton, N., Azapagic, A., Balmer, A., Barran, P., Breitling, R., Delneri, D., Dixon, N., Faulon, J., Flitsch, S., Goble, C., Goodacre, R., Hay, S., Kell, D., Leys, D., Lloyd, J., Lockyer, N., Martin, P., Micklefield, J., Munro, A., Pedrosa Mendes, P., Randles, S., Salehi Yazdi, F., Shapira, P., Takano, E., Turner, N. & Winterburn, J.
14/11/14 → 13/05/20
Project: Research

Cite this

@article{6386dce216884d09a1e119f92e75f33a,

title = "Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy",

abstract = "Plastics have become an important environmental concern due to their durability and resistance to degradation. Out of all plastic materials, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are amenable to biological degradation due to the action of microbial polyester hydrolases. The hydrolysis products obtained from PET can thereby be used for the synthesis of novel PET as well as become a potential carbon source for microorganisms. In addition, microorganisms and biomass can be used for the synthesis of the constituent monomers of PET from renewable sources. The combination of both biodegradation and biosynthesis would enable a completely circular bio-PET economy beyond the conventional recycling processes. Circular strategies like this could contribute to significantly decreasing the environmental impact of our dependence on this polymer. Here we review the efforts made towards turning PET into a viable feedstock for microbial transformations. We highlight current bottlenecks in degradation of the polymer and metabolism of the monomers, and we showcase fully biological or semisynthetic processes leading to the synthesis of PET from sustainable substrates.",

keywords = "plastics, biodegradation, sustainability, upcycling, biotransformations, polyethylene terephthalate, terephthalate, ethylene glycol",

author = "Manuel Salvador and Umar Abdulmutalib and Jaime Gonzalez and Juhyun Kim and Smith, {Alex A.} and Jean-Loup Faulon and Ren Wei and Wolfgang Zimmermann and Jimenez, {Jose I.}",

year = "2019",

month = may,

day = "16",

doi = "10.3390/genes10050373",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

journal = "Genes",

issn = "2073-4425",

publisher = "MDPI",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy

AU - Salvador, Manuel

AU - Abdulmutalib, Umar

AU - Gonzalez, Jaime

AU - Kim, Juhyun

AU - Smith, Alex A.

AU - Faulon, Jean-Loup

AU - Wei, Ren

AU - Zimmermann, Wolfgang

AU - Jimenez, Jose I.

PY - 2019/5/16

Y1 - 2019/5/16

N2 - Plastics have become an important environmental concern due to their durability and resistance to degradation. Out of all plastic materials, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are amenable to biological degradation due to the action of microbial polyester hydrolases. The hydrolysis products obtained from PET can thereby be used for the synthesis of novel PET as well as become a potential carbon source for microorganisms. In addition, microorganisms and biomass can be used for the synthesis of the constituent monomers of PET from renewable sources. The combination of both biodegradation and biosynthesis would enable a completely circular bio-PET economy beyond the conventional recycling processes. Circular strategies like this could contribute to significantly decreasing the environmental impact of our dependence on this polymer. Here we review the efforts made towards turning PET into a viable feedstock for microbial transformations. We highlight current bottlenecks in degradation of the polymer and metabolism of the monomers, and we showcase fully biological or semisynthetic processes leading to the synthesis of PET from sustainable substrates.

AB - Plastics have become an important environmental concern due to their durability and resistance to degradation. Out of all plastic materials, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are amenable to biological degradation due to the action of microbial polyester hydrolases. The hydrolysis products obtained from PET can thereby be used for the synthesis of novel PET as well as become a potential carbon source for microorganisms. In addition, microorganisms and biomass can be used for the synthesis of the constituent monomers of PET from renewable sources. The combination of both biodegradation and biosynthesis would enable a completely circular bio-PET economy beyond the conventional recycling processes. Circular strategies like this could contribute to significantly decreasing the environmental impact of our dependence on this polymer. Here we review the efforts made towards turning PET into a viable feedstock for microbial transformations. We highlight current bottlenecks in degradation of the polymer and metabolism of the monomers, and we showcase fully biological or semisynthetic processes leading to the synthesis of PET from sustainable substrates.

KW - plastics

KW - biodegradation

KW - sustainability

KW - upcycling

KW - biotransformations

KW - polyethylene terephthalate

KW - terephthalate

KW - ethylene glycol

U2 - 10.3390/genes10050373

DO - 10.3390/genes10050373

M3 - Review article

VL - 10

JO - Genes

JF - Genes

SN - 2073-4425

IS - 5

ER -

Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy

Abstract

Keywords

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

UN SDGs

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Projects

Towards a Bio-based Manufacturing Platform for High Strength Aramid Synthetic Fibres Using Synthetic Biology.

Manchester Synthetic Biology Research Centre for Fine and Speciality Chemicals

Cite this