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The other comment mentioned the example of making proteins that bind a structure. Heres an extension - a general understanding of how an enzyme works to catalyz
by ramraj07 6y ago
The other comment mentioned the example of making proteins that bind a structure. Heres an extension - a general understanding of how an enzyme works to catalyze chemical reactions, is that it binds the reaction intermediate with higher affinity than the two substrates; thus if we have this reverse ability, we can start inventing enzymes that can catalyze any arbitrary chemical reaction, even ones that need energy input, so you could imagine for example enzyme systems that can convert plastic to fuel!
- Rochus 6y agoOk, then this is about enzymes which do not yet exist in the organism. You could then modify bacteria so they produce this enzyme and feed on plastic, I see.
- flobosg 6y agoPlastic degradation is a thing already in naturally occurring bacteria that evolved a PETase: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196/tab-figures-data https://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6278/1196/tab-fig...
- Rochus 6y agoBut producing fuel as the fellow suggested would then be another function to be added to the bacterium; and maybe it should work on different kinds of plastic.
- flobosg 6y agoOf course, that's why I focused on degradation. There's plenty of room for improvement. For instance, PETase is not very efficient actually, and many research groups are working on its engineering.