Genetically Modified E. Coli for Accelerated Degradation of PET Microplastics

Overview

PET plastics are widely produced for industrial applications; because plastic waste is not easily degraded, it accumulates in marine environments, posing risk to marine life and the humans who consume it. The soil-dwelling bacteria I. sakaiensis has evolved to produce the PETase enzyme, which more sustainably and effectively degrades PET. This study used E. Coli as a model for foreign expression of the PETase gene in bacterial species suited to underwater environments and quantified the rate at which it could degrade PET once genetically enhanced. By exposing transgenic and nontransgenic strains of E. Coli to liquid cultures containing PET microplastics and recording differences in degradation rate, the study aimed to determine if PETase could be effectively expressed for more targeted and faster degradation of PET. Individual plastic pieces were isolated from the cultures and examined weekly. After two months, all plastics were removed from the culture, dried, and massed to calculate the degradation rate. Physical corrosion of the plastic by the transgenic strain was observed, and a one-tailed t-test determined that their final weights were significantly less than those in cultures with the nontransgenic strain. A degradation rate of 0.09416g/year was calculated, which is 120,000% higher than the natural degradation rate of PET in a marine environment. The successful expression of PETase in E. Coli suggests that it is a viable solution for plastic degradation; to maximize this degradation rate, future research can utilize marine bacteria with preexisting catalytic enzymes that can work synergistically with PETase.

Competition history

• AJAS 2024 Category not listed

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• AJAS None projects
• Every AJAS 2024 project