Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Towards the biological degradation of plastics: Genetic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to secrete Ideonella sakaiensis derived PETase.

Issa, Noor (2021) Towards the biological degradation of plastics: Genetic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to secrete Ideonella sakaiensis derived PETase. Master of Science by Research (MScRes) thesis, University of Kent,. (doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.90409) (KAR id:90409)

Abstract

In this project we demonstrated that two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, were able to produce the heterologous protein Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) hydrolase from the novel bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis. This novel enzyme has

been shown to have the capability of degrading PET into its subsequent monomers, Ethylene Glycol and Terephthalic acid. The original native form of PET hydrolase was mutated by the Beckham lab (Skaf et al. 2018) to increase efficiency of degradation, the two residues changed were at the active site which resulted in the narrowing of the cleft. The residues changed were Tryptophan at position 159 to a Histidine residue; and Serine at position 238 to a Phenylalanine. In this study the double mutant form of the enzyme was used. In this project we also demonstrated the capability of PETase expressed by Saccharomyces cerevisiae to cause surface changes on waste PET samples. Lastly, we have also shown that Saccharomyces cerevisiae has the ability to form cell clusters similar to biofilms on a PET surface. All of these findings point to the viability of using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a novel system for plastic waste removal in an industrial setting.

Item Type: Thesis (Master of Science by Research (MScRes))
Thesis advisor: von der Haar, Tobias
DOI/Identification number: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.90409
Uncontrolled keywords: PETase, Biological degradation, Genetic engineering, Recombinant protein, Secretion, Plastic pollution, Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Biosciences
SWORD Depositor: System Moodle
Depositing User: System Moodle
Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2021 06:59 UTC
Last Modified: 01 Oct 2022 23:00 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/90409 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Issa, Noor.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.