Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33127-w
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Funding
- Roechling foundation
- Roechling Stiftung
- Consejo Superior de Investigacion Cientifica (CSIC)
- NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme [SPS G5536]
- Junta de Castilla y Leon, Consejeria de Educacion y Cultura y Fondo Social Europeo [BU263P18]
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion [PID2019-111215RB-100, PID2020-120275GB-I00]
- Generalitat de Catalunya [2017 SGR 1192]
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The saliva of wax worms has the ability to oxidize and depolymerize polyethylene, providing a potential solution for biodegradation of plastic waste.
Plastic degradation by biological systems with re-utilization of the by-products could be a future solution to the global threat of plastic waste accumulation. Here, we report that the saliva of Galleria mellonella larvae (wax worms) is capable of oxidizing and depolymerizing polyethylene (PE), one of the most produced and sturdy polyolefin-derived plastics. This effect is achieved after a few hours' exposure at room temperature under physiological conditions (neutral pH). The wax worm saliva can overcome the bottleneck step in PE biodegradation, namely the initial oxidation step. Within the saliva, we identify two enzymes, belonging to the phenol oxidase family, that can reproduce the same effect. To the best of our knowledge, these enzymes are the first animal enzymes with this capability, opening the way to potential solutions for plastic waste management through bio-recycling/up-cycling.
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