Version 1
: Received: 23 April 2019 / Approved: 25 April 2019 / Online: 25 April 2019 (12:38:54 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 3 May 2019 / Approved: 5 May 2019 / Online: 5 May 2019 (11:46:57 CEST)
Salvador, M.; Abdulmutalib, U.; Gonzalez, J.; Kim, J.; Smith, A.A.; Faulon, J.-L.; Wei, R.; Zimmermann, W.; Jimenez, J.I. Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy. Genes2019, 10, 373.
Salvador, M.; Abdulmutalib, U.; Gonzalez, J.; Kim, J.; Smith, A.A.; Faulon, J.-L.; Wei, R.; Zimmermann, W.; Jimenez, J.I. Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy. Genes 2019, 10, 373.
Salvador, M.; Abdulmutalib, U.; Gonzalez, J.; Kim, J.; Smith, A.A.; Faulon, J.-L.; Wei, R.; Zimmermann, W.; Jimenez, J.I. Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy. Genes2019, 10, 373.
Salvador, M.; Abdulmutalib, U.; Gonzalez, J.; Kim, J.; Smith, A.A.; Faulon, J.-L.; Wei, R.; Zimmermann, W.; Jimenez, J.I. Microbial Genes for a Circular and Sustainable Bio-PET Economy. Genes 2019, 10, 373.
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 becoming 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 decrease 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 the degradation of the polymer and the metabolism of the monomers and we showcase fully biological or semisynthetic processes leading to the synthesis of PET from sustainable substrates.
Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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