Plastic eating bacteria breakdown the plastics like PET to smaller unit with the help of a enzyme called PETase.

1. Plastic eating bacteria
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Name- Mamta Sahoo
Class-+3 3rd year science
Zoology (Hons)

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1. Introduction
2. About plastic and harmful effects on environment
3. Introduction about plastic eating bacteria
4. How does it work
5. Advantages of these mechanism
6. conclusion
Contents:-

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• In 2016 Japanese scientists from Kyoto Institute of
Technology and the Keio University have made a
discovery that is going to help us manage our vast
trash of disposable plastic water bottles which have
a obstacles to the environment .
• They found a new bacteria species that eats the
plastic found in water bottle
• The species has been named as Ideonella sakaiensis
201-F6.
• Laboratory tests revealed that the species used two
enzymes to break down PET.
INTRODUCTION:-
Morgan Vague holds up a test tube teeming
with plastic-eating bacteria (Reed College)

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PLASTICS:-
• Plastics are complex polymers, meaning they
have long, repeating chains of molecules that
don’t dissolve in water.
• The strength of these chains makes plastic very
durable means it takes a very long time to
decompose naturally.
• The type of plastic used in water bottles is known
as Polyethylene terephthalate or PET.
• PET is light weight, colourless, and durable, but
at the same time it is resistance to
biodegradation.
About plastic and harmful effects on environment:-

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• PET is produced by polymerisation of ethylene glycol and
terephthalic acid. When both of this heated together, it produces
PET in the form of molten, viscous mass which solidifies latter
as plastic.
• Plastics take thousands of year to degrade.

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HARMFUL EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT:-
• It adversely effect the wildlife, wildlife habitat and humans.
• Plastic pollution can unfavourably affect lands, water ways and oceans.
• Harmful chemicals releases to land or soil which causes pollution.

7. • Ideonella sakaiensis is a bacterium from the
genus Ideonella and family comamonadaceae
.
• It is a gram negative, aerobic and rod shaped
bacteria
• The bacteria secrets two hydrolytic enzymes to
degrade the common plastic polymer PET.
• The two enzymes are
1. PETase
2. MHETase
• The PETase break down PET into the
compound MHET and MHETase enzyme
breaks it down further.
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Introduction about plastic
eating bacteria:-
PLASTIC EATING BACTERIA

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• The bacteria works by secreting an enzyme (a
type of protein that speed up chemical reaction
for degradation) known as PETase.
• It splits certain chemical bonds (ester)in PET
with the help of water to smaller molecules
called MHET
• It then breaks it down further using MHETase,
another enzyme that further reacts with water to
break down the plastics into terephthalic acids
and ethylene glycol.
• It degrades the thin film of PET after 6 weeks at
30°C temperature.
how does it work:-

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• It is advantageous for removing the plastic material from our
environment.
• Due to this mechanism terephthalic acid could be isolated and
reused, this could provide huge savings in the production of new
polymers.
• This mechanism speed up the recycling process which stop
environmental pollution.
Advantages of these mechanism:-

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• Plastics are every where. Once they get into the environment as trash, they
stay there for years, decades or even centuries. That’s because plastics are
chemically inert and immune to the enzymatic process involved in
biodegradation.
• Plastic pollution is increasing day by day and at some point plastic recycle is
not possible. So that biodegradation of plastic is important.
• A new bacteria species called as Ideonella sakaiensis which is able to utilize
PET. This method will help us to reduce plastic pollution.
Conclusion:-

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