Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Textile Science, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan. Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan.
Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Textile Science, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan.
Science. 2016 Mar 11;351(6278):1196-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aad6359.
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is used extensively worldwide in plastic products, and its accumulation in the environment has become a global concern. Because the ability to enzymatically degrade PET has been thought to be limited to a few fungal species, biodegradation is not yet a viable remediation or recycling strategy. By screening natural microbial communities exposed to PET in the environment, we isolated a novel bacterium, Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6, that is able to use PET as its major energy and carbon source. When grown on PET, this strain produces two enzymes capable of hydrolyzing PET and the reaction intermediate, mono(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalic acid. Both enzymes are required to enzymatically convert PET efficiently into its two environmentally benign monomers, terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol.
聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）在全球范围内被广泛用于塑料制品，其在环境中的积累已成为全球性关注问题。由于人们认为能够酶解 PET 的能力仅限于少数几种真菌，因此生物降解目前还不是一种可行的修复或回收策略。通过对暴露于环境中的 PET 的天然微生物群落进行筛选，我们分离到了一种新型细菌，解淀粉欧文氏菌 201-F6，它能够将 PET 用作其主要的能量和碳源。在 PET 上生长时，该菌株会产生两种能够水解 PET 和反应中间体单（2-羟乙基）对苯二甲酸的酶。这两种酶都需要有效地将 PET 酶解为两种环境友好的单体，对苯二甲酸和乙二醇。
