Due to the ubiquity and persistence of microplastics (<5 mm in diameter) in water, soil, and air environments, identifying ways to mitigate the detrimental effects microplastics can have on ecosystems and human and animal health is of ongoing concern. Reducing the harm of these pollutants through biodegradation is an attractive option and a growing area of research. For example, microorganisms have been identified that can efficiently degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is a lightweight, recyclable plastic commonly used in food and beverage packaging and textiles. Microbial Insights has developed two new CENSUS® qPCR functional gene assays related to PET biodegradation: IsPET and BsPET.
IsPET: Targets a hydrolase from Ideonella sakaiensis which hydrolyzes polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to mono-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (MHET) which is then broken down by a second enzyme into terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol. The IsPET gene is known to have the highest PET degradation activity of all known PET-degrading enzymes.
BsPET: Targets esterases from Bacillus spp. that have been shown to degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), the pesticide chlorpyrifos, and the herbicide lactofen.
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