Enzymes and methods of use for biodegrading polyolefin-derived polymers
AssigneeConsejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (Csic)
InventorsFederica Bertocchini, Maria Gracia Sola I. Vilarrubias, Ernesto Arias Palomo
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Abstract
The invention refers to enzymes from the wax worm (Galleria mellonella larvae) saliva which has the unexpected capacity of oxidizing and depolymerizing untreated polyolefin-derived polymers, such as polyethylene (PE), at room temperature (RT), neutral pH and short incubation times. The invention also refers to a method for biodegrading a polyolefin-derived polymer wherein this enzyme is used.
Claims43
A method for biodegrading a polyolefin-derived polymer, or a material comprising a polyolefin-derived polymer, comprising contacting:
- an enzyme comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 1, or
- a host cell comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding said enzyme, or
- a composition comprising said enzyme or said host cell,
- with a polyolefin-derived polymer or a material comprising a polyolefin-derived polymer.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the composition further comprises an additional enzyme which comprises an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 3.
The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the composition further comprises an additional enzyme which comprises an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 4.
An expression vector comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an enzyme for biodegrading or oxidating and/or depolymerizing a polyolefin-derived polymer or a material comprising a polyolefin-derived polymer;
- the enzyme comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 1.
An isolated enzyme comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 1 for biodegrading, or oxidating and/or depolymerizing a polyolefin-derived polymer or a material comprising a polyolefin-derived polymer;
- wherein the enzyme of the invention is not the enzyme of database accession reference number NCBI:
- XP026749149.1 or accession reference number A0A6J1WF64.
The method, vector, enzyme, cell, composition or kit according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the polyolefin-derived polymer is polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP).
A method for obtaining by-products derived from the biodegradation of a polyolefin-derived polymer, comprising:
- (a) contacting a polyolefin-derived polymer with
- an enzyme comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 1, or
- a host cell comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding said enzyme, or
- a composition comprising said enzyme or said host cell, and
- (b) isolating the by-products obtained from the culture resulting from step (a).
A method for pre-treating a polyolefin-derived polymer, comprising contacting:
- an enzyme comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 1, or
- a host cell comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding said enzyme, or
- a composition comprising said enzyme or said host cell
- with a polyolefin-derived polymer or a material comprising a polyolefin-derived polymer to oxidise the polymer.
Use of:
- an enzyme comprising an amino acid sequence having a sequence identity of, at least, 60% with SEQ ID NO:
- 1, or
- a host cell comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding said enzyme, or
- a composition comprising said enzyme or said host cell,
- for biodegrading a polyolefin-derived polymer or a material comprising a polyolefin-derived polymer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.