To combat the alarming rise in plastic pollution worldwide, researchers have developed a synthetic microorganism ecosystem that works collectively to upcycle plastics into desired chemicals. Instead of trying to synthesize a single organism that can perform all of the upcycling steps, the researchers utilized two strains of bacteria to efficiently degrade one of the most common plastics, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), into nontoxic, environment-friendly, and biodegradable polymers.

The research article, “Engineering microbial division of labor for plastic upcycling,” was published in Nature Communications by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of bioengineering Ting Lu, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor of medical engineering & science James J. Collins, PhD, and colleagues.

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[Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, 2023.9.26, https://www.genengnews.com/topics/bioprocessing/synthetic-microbial-ecosystem-sustainably-upcycles-plastic-into-valuable-biodegradable-polymers/]