Enhancing PET degradation efficiency through fusing carbohydrate-binding modules in LCC-ICCG

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Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a largely-produced polymer worldwide. However, its extensive waste generation and resistance to degradation pose significant environmental concerns. Consequently, there is considerable interest in researching enzymatic degradation of PET. Relevant studies have shown that the addition of a carbohydrate binding module (CBM) can increase the affinity between the enzyme and the substrate, enhancing the enzyme's degradation ability. In order to develop more efficient PET hydrolytic enzymes, this study introduced carbohydrate binding domains (CBMs) from different families with different substrate affinities into the PET-degrading enzyme LCC-ICCG. High crystallinity PET powder and amorphous PET film were used as substrates to characterize the degradation efficiency of the modified enzymes, aiming to explore the enzyme with the optimal degradation ability. The results showed that the fusion of type B CBM reduced the degradation rate and Tm value of the enzyme towards PET, while the introduction of type A and type C CBMs significantly improved the degradation rate of the enzyme towards the film-like substrate. The degradation rate and Tm value of PET were also enhanced, especially with the fusion enzyme LCC-ICCG-CBM9-2, which showed an over 10-fold increase in the degradation rate compared to the original enzyme LCC-ICCG. Therefore, this study demonstrates that by introducing type A and type C CBMs, the degradation rate and thermal stability of LCC-ICCG towards film-like PET can be improved, addressing the issue of its low activity and enabling more effective PET degradation. This research provides support for plastic degradation technology and contributes to environmental conservation efforts.