A new hope for better environment in the future, bacterium that eats plastic. (Image via: ZME Science)

Hope for Humanity from Japan: Discovery of Plastics-Eating Bacteria

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Environmental Energy & Material
Jun 22, 2019
2465
Plastic pollution is one of the challenges the world is currently facing, amid the rise of global warming issue. Plastic, despite integral to human life, is not eco-friendly, since it takes 10-1000 years to decompose, while plastic bottles need 450 or even more years to decompose.

When all hope seems lost, a glimmer of hope rises from a plastic bottle processing plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. In 2005, the researcher found bacterium which feeds on plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Kohei Oda and his colleagues named the bacterium Idionella sakaiensis because it was found in Sakai. The bacterium sparks a seem-to-be-dim, but bright light for humanity in the midst of fight against plastic pollution.

“I hope the bacterium will be a beacon to solve plastic pollution,” said Oda humbly.

When Oda’s research was published in world-scale, the scientific community was baffled. At first, the scientists once pointed out that PET is non-biodegradable, since it is one of the components found in petroleum. Nonetheless, with this findings, they were more than curious to know.

The bacterium and its usage will pave its way to global fame once it is brought to light in the upcoming G-20 Summit in Osaka on 28-29 June.

How exactly does the bacterium works? The bacterium digests PET in plastics products using 2 kinds of enzymes. It was found to consume the PET with thickness of 0.2 mm for a month before decomposing it into carbon dioxide and water, tabulated Shosuke Yoshida, appointed associate professor of environmental microbiology at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology.

The enzymes popped a global race to determine what kind of enzyme it was. Chinese scientists were the one to find out the name of the enzymes and their structures, naming it PETase. Further structures of the enzymes were later delineated by South Korean and Chilean researchers.

Further development was recorded as British scientist found way to efficiently use the enzyme, leading the revolution in plastic industry and reuse of plastic.

In 2019, German researcher succeeded in analyzing the 2nd enzymes through 3-D analysis, naming it MHETase.

Up until now, Yoshida and other scientists are working hand in hand to find the condition that enhance the performance of the enzymes. While the world is praying that the enzyme will finally bring back the green earth once destroyed.

Source: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201906210037.html

Environment , Ecology , Global-Warming , Japan , Idionella-sakaiensis , G-20 , Plastic-pollution , Bio-degradable , PET