Scientists have been inspired by Pacman to create a plastic-eating 'cocktail', which could help eradicate plastic waste. The new super-enzyme digests plastic up to six times faster than the original PETase enzyme alone, which was discovered by the team in 2018. 'But if we can add enzymes to the waste plastic, we can start to break it down in a matter of days.' For their new study, the team mixed PETase with the second enzyme, called MHETase, and found 'the digestion of the plastic bottles literally doubled'. This allowed the team to determine the 3D structure of the MHETase enzyme, giving them the molecular blueprints to begin engineering a faster enzyme system.

Source: Daily Mail September 28, 2020 19:01 UTC