BrainStuff Classics: Could a Plastic-Eating Enzyme Help Save the Planet?

We humans produce a LOT of plastics that wind up as harmful waste, but researchers have isolated an enzyme that may help reduce the problem. Learn how in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/plastic-eating-enzyme-planets-new-hope.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi
brain Stuff, I'm more in vogel bomb in. Today's episode
is another classic from our archives. It's about the discovery
in of bacteria that can eat certain types of plastic
and thus break it down, giving us hope that we
may one day be able to make a dent in

(00:22):
humanity's plastic waste. These bacteria are still being researched. Scientists say,
we're unfortunately still years away from being to put this
discovery into practical use, but it's still a fascinating discovery. Hey,
brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb Here. One of the amazing
things about our universe is that nothing really goes to waste.

(00:44):
For instance, you the incredible master work that you are
happened to be composed of the trash that exploded out
of a supernova. In every nook and cranny of the cosmos,
the universe is reorganizing and reusing. It is the great
resaw cycler. Our planet recycles everything, water, carbon, nutrients of

(01:04):
all kinds, So it stands to reason that we'd be
really good at recycling stuff here on Earth. But we
humans are only so so recyclers take plastic. We do
a great job of digging up ancient deposits of carbon
in order to make the stuff, which is recycling sort of.
But since the nineteen forties, we've manufactured mind boggling amounts

(01:26):
of a material that will likely hang out in the
environment for centuries, killing wildlife and leaching toxic chemicals. Only
about ten percent of that is ever recycled. But in
a Japanese research team discovered bacteria making some inroads into
plastics recycling where we humans were failing. Poly Ethylene tarithalate,

(01:48):
or PET plastics are everywhere, most notably in plastic soda
and water bottles, and the bonds that hold its molecules
together are very strong. So it was something of a
surprise when a colony of these bacteria were discovered in
a Japanese landfill. But what's their secret? In a issue
of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

(02:09):
an international group of researchers reported on the pet busting
enzyme produced by these bacteria. Not only did they map
the structure of the enzyme, but in the process of
studying and tinkering with it, they also made it faster.
Turns out it was all a bit of an accident.
Lead author Greg Beckham, senior engineer at the National Renewable

(02:30):
Energy Laboratory, said in a press release. We hoped to
determine its structure to aid in protein engineering, but we
ended up going a step further and accidentally engineered an
enzyme with improved performance at breaking down these plastics. What
we've learned is that p E t A s is
not yet fully optimized to degrade PET, and now that
we've shown this, it's time to apply the tools of

(02:51):
protein engineering and evolution to continue to improve it. The
goal of this research is to find a way to
create an enzyme that works fast and to break down
huge amounts of pet plastic into its component parts so
it can be turned back into plastic bottles. One possible
solution is to plant this mutant enzyme into bacteria that
can withstand insanely high temperatures, which might break the plastic

(03:15):
down ten to a hundred times quicker, or whatever it takes. Y'all,
we humans buy one million plastic bottles every minute. Reduce
and recycle your plastic waste. But it also can't hurt
to keep your fingers crossed for these bacteria to work
out Today's episode is based on the article plastic eating enzyme,

(03:37):
Maybe our Planet's New Hope on how stuff works dot Com.
Written by Dslin Shields. Brain Stuffs production of I Heart
Radio in partnership with stuff works dot Com and it's
produced by Tyler Clay. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio.
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