Characterization of novel bioplastic degrading enzyme from Cryptococcus nemorosus TBRC2959 and its application in self-biodegradable plastic

For decades, plastic waste management has been one of the major ecological challenges of our society. Despite the introduction of biodegradable alternatives such as polylactic acid (PLA), their beneficial environmental impact is limited by the requirement of specific compost facility while biodegradation of PLA in natural environment occurs at a very slow rate. In this work, plastic degrading enzyme was utilized to facilitate degradation process. Genomic and proteomic tools were employed to identify a new biodegradable plastic degrading enzyme from of Cryptococcus nemorosus TBRC2959. The new enzyme, Cr14CLE, functions optimally under mild conditions with temperature range of 30oC to 40oC and suffers no significant loss of enzymatic activity at pH ranging from 6 to 8. Applications of Cr14CLE have been demonstrated through the preparation of enzyme-coated PLA film and laminated PLA film with enzyme layer. PLA films prepared by both approaches exhibited capability to self-degrade in water.