@article{10902/26751,
year = {2022},
month = {10},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/26751},
abstract = {Plastic degradation by biological systems with re-utilization of the by-products could be a future solution to the global threat of plastic waste accumulation. Here, we report that the saliva of Galleria mellonella larvae (wax worms) is capable of oxidizing and depolymerizing polyethylene (PE), one of the most produced and sturdy polyolefin-derived plastics. This effect is achieved after a few hours´ exposure at room temperature under physiological conditions (neutral pH). The wax worm saliva can overcome the bottleneck step in PE biodegradation, namely the initial oxidation step. Within the saliva, we identify two enzymes, belonging to the phenol oxidase family, that can reproduce the same effect. To the best of our knowledge, these enzymes are the first animal enzymes with this capability, opening the way to potential solutions for plastic waste management through bio-recycling/up-cycling},
organization = {We thank the Proteomics and Genomics, Electron Microscopy and Gas Chromatography facilities of the CIB for the excellent technical support. We thank Paloma Delgado and Pedro Velasco from InsectPark-Microfauna S.L., El Escorial, Madrid, Spain (https://insectpark.es/) for providing Samia cynthia larvae. We thank the Centres Científics i Tecnològics Unitat Cromatografia de Gases-Espectrometria de Masses Aplicada (CCIT), University of Barcelona, Spain for the support provided in the GC-MS experiments. We thank the Roechling foundation for supporting and sponsoring this work. This work has been funded as follows: Roechling Stiftung to F.B., Consejo Superior de Investigacion Cientifica (CSIC) to F.B., NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme (Grant SPS G5536) to T.T., Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura y Fondo Social Europeo (Grant BU263P18) to T.T., Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant PID2019-111215RB-100) to T.T., The Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 1192) to M.S., and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant PID2020-120275GB-I00) to E.A.-P.},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
publisher = {Nature Communications, 2022, 13, 5568},
title = {Wax worm saliva and the enzymes therein are the key to polyethylene degradation by Galleria mellonella},
author = {Sanluis Verdes, A. and Colomer Vidal, Pere and Rodríguez Ventura, Francisco and Bello Villarino, M. and Spínola Amilibia, Mercedes and Ruiz López, Elena and Illanes Vicioso, R. and Castrovieho, P. and Aiese Cigliano, Riccardo and Montoya, M and Falabella, Patrizia and Pesquera González, Carmen and González Legarreta, Lorena and Arias Palomo, Ernesto and Solà, M. and Torroba Pérez, Tomás and Fernández Arias, Clemente and Bertocchini, Federica},
}