Following similar developments in England and France, a team of scientists at The University of Texas at Austin created an enzyme variant that breaks down plastic with the potential to eliminate billions of tons of landfill. The enzyme—dubbed FAST-PETase—targets polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polymer found in consumer packaging that makes up 12% of global waste. Researchers used a machine learning model to generate mutations of a natural enzyme that degrades PET, creating an efficient variant that can eat plastic—in certain cases in as little as 24 hours. As the portable enzyme operates at less than 50 degrees Celsius, it can be used to clean up polluted sites, offering a breakthrough solution to cleaning pollution. Image courtesy of Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Source: CNN April 27, 2022 20:47 UTC