Bioprospecting plastic degrading enzymes from Great Australian Artesian Basin thermophiles for biorecycling and bioremediation.

Plastics are a known to pose a problem as environmental pollution and in recycling. Enzyme technologies are theorized to be able to degrade plastics as a bioremedial strategy to combat plastic waste in the environment or as a technology capable of recycling plastics. However, due to plastics recent introduction into the ecosystems their biotic degradation is not well established in microbial organisms and the field of plastic degrading enzymes is arising. Thermophiles in the GAB are theorized to contain plastic degrading enzymes as thermophiles are in contact with hydrocarbon deposits, which have identical chemistry to plastics. Thermophiles on numerous occasions have provided thermally robust enzymes, which have been beneficial in many industrial applications. Thus it is predicted thermophiles from the GAB may contain plastic degrading enzymes which are thermostable and viable in industrial bioremediation or biorecycling.