Substrate specificity

Gene

Catalysis

Ecology

Neuroscience

Biology

Materials science

Mutation

Biochemistry

Substrate (aquarium)

Combinatorial chemistry

Enzyme

Bioconversion

Pet imaging

Hydrolysis

Composite material

Mutagenesis

Chemistry

Hydrolase

Fermentation

Positron emission tomography

Polyethylene terephthalate

Nature Communications

PET hydrolase (PETase), which hydrolyzes polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into soluble building blocks, provides an attractive avenue for the bioconversion of plastics. Here we present the structures of a novel PETase from the PET-consuming microbe Ideonella sakaiensis in complex with substrate and product analogs. Through structural analyses, mutagenesis, and activity measurements, a substrate-binding mode is proposed, and several features critical for catalysis are elucidated.

Structural insight into catalytic mechanism of PET hydrolase