BREAKTHROUGH: Scientists develop a new enzyme that can break down recycled plastic very quickly.
By Cameron Brewer, Staff Writer
With the amount of plastic in oceans, scientists were working to discover or invent ways in which the amount of plastic could be reduced. They had been studying a naturally occurring enzyme, currently unnamed, that developed on its own in a waste center in Japan to eat through plastic. They were attempting to study the enzyme’s structure when they accidentally forced a mutation in the enzyme. In doing so, this enzyme is now even more effective in breaking down plastic and increasing the rate at which it is broken down.
According to “Plastic Pollution” and the “Blue (Plastic) Planet,” websites that focus on the detrimental amount of plastic present in the oceans and their harmful effects, there is between 5.3 million and 14 million tons of plastic that is dumped into the sea. Because plastics are not biodegradable, eventually they will wind up into animals’ digestive systems. The plastic would fail to break down even in there, and would poison the animal that ingested it. The ocean has an efficient way in which chemicals break down the plastic naturally, but the overwhelming amount of plastic residing in our oceans is too much to take.
However, with this fortunate accident, scientists are optimistic that the enzyme could greatly reduce the amount of plastic polluting the oceans. The change they prompted was relatively small, improving the enzyme’s digestion system only by 20%; yet, scientists are ecstatic about the small change in itself. “Although the improvement is modest, this unanticipated discovery suggests that there is further room to improve these enzymes. It’s incredible because it tells us that the enzyme is not yet fully optimized,” said Professor John McGeehan, director of the Institute of Biological and Biomedical Sciences in the School of Biological Sciences at Portsmouth. The scientists will continue to test the capabilities of this new breakthrough in an attempt to further improve and ultimately solve the plastic problem present.