RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Wax worm saliva and the enzymes therein are the key to polyethylene degradation by <em>Galleria mellonella</em>
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.04.08.487620
DO 10.1101/2022.04.08.487620
A1 Sanluis-Verdes, A.
A1 Colomer-Vidal, P.
A1 Rodríguez-Ventura, F.
A1 Bello-Villarino, M.
A1 Spinola-Amilibia, M.
A1 Ruiz-López, E.
A1 Illanes-Vicioso, R.
A1 Castroviejo, P.
A1 Cigliano, R. Aiese
A1 Montoya, M.
A1 Falabella, P.
A1 Pesquera, C.
A1 González-Legarreta, L.
A1 Arias-Palomo, E.
A1 Solà, M.
A1 Torroba, T.
A1 Arias, C.F.
A1 Bertocchini, F.
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/08/2022.04.08.487620.abstract
AB Plastic degradation by biological systems with re-utilization of the by-products can be the future solution to the global threat of plastic waste accumulation. We report that the saliva of Galleria mellonella larvae (wax worms) is capable of oxidizing and depolymerizing polyethylene (PE), one of the most produced and sturdy polyolefin-derived plastics. This effect is achieved after a few hours’ exposure at room temperature and physiological conditions (neutral pH). The wax worm saliva can indeed overcome the bottleneck step in PE biodegradation, that is the initial oxidation step. Within the saliva, we identified two enzymes that can reproduce the same effect. This is the first report of enzymes with this capability, opening up the way to new ground-breaking solutions for plastic waste management through bio-recycling/up-cycling.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.