Scientists at Massachuesetts Institute of Technology have uncovered a new and improved way to produce biodegradable plastic. The process involves using polymers, produced by bacteria, to make materials required to make plastic.
In the study, scientists have found a way they can control the size of the polymer's molecules by genetically manipulating production of a key enzyme. The molecular size influences the property of the finished plastic. The MIT group believes that biodegradable plastics made by bacteria could be useful for a wide range of applications.
The researchers inserted additional genes in E. coli to make them produce different amounts of PHA synthase, an enzyme that links the individual polymer units into chains.The cells that had a lot of PHA synthase, the enzyme joined the polymer units into a larger number of shorter chains, whereas in cells with less synthase, the enzyme made longer chains.
