#enzymes

New “living plastic” self-destructs in just 6 days without leaving microplastics

Researchers have created self-destructing living plastic that uses engineered bacteria to completely break itself down when activated.

Many plastic items are used for only a few minutes or hours, but the material can remain in the environment for decades or even centuries. Researchers are now exploring a different approach: plastics designed to break themselves down when activated. Known as living plastics, these materials contain dormant microbes capable of degrading the surrounding polymer. In a study published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials, scientists developed a version that fully decomposed in six days without producing microplastics. Zhuojun Dai, a corresponding author on the paper, explains that "the realization that traditional plastics persist for centuries, while many applications, like packaging, are short-lived, led us to ask: Could we build degradation directly into the material's life cycle?"

Researchers have captured real-time "molecular movies" showing how an enzyme changes shape during catalysis. The study was published in Nature Communications. Using an advanced technique called mix-and-inject serial crystallography at Japan's SACLA X-ray free-electron laser facility, the team observed domain movements and structural changes in the enzyme, copper amine oxidase enzyme over millisecond timescales, revealing dynamics that are nearly impossible to observe by other methods.

Enzymes break down starches. Enzymada breaks down sadness!

Artprint: https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/filipeanut/enzyme-mada-enzymada-infographic/