plastizyme

English

Etymology

Blend of plasti(c) +‎ (en)zyme.

Noun

plastizyme (plural plastizymes)

2. Any of a type of molecularly imprinted polymer engineered to function as an enzyme, being a catalyst to aid breakdown of molecules, for industrial uses and in environmental remediation.
   • 2002, Oliver Brüggemann, “Molecularly Imprinted Materials — Receptors More Durable than Nature Can Provide”, in Modern Advances in Chromatography (Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology)‎^[1], volume 76, page 127:

     Abstract: The chapter describes the concept of molecular imprinting. This technology allows the fabrication of artificial polymeric receptors applicable in many areas of biotechnology. […] in solid phase extraction or immunoassays these polymers (MIP [molecularly imprinted polymers]) are able to compete with traditional materials such as biological antibodies. Furthermore, polymers molecularly imprinted with so-called transition state analogue templates can be applied as catalysts. In other words, these kind of polymers may be used as artificial antibodies (plastibodies) or biomimicking enzymes (plastizymes). Compared to their biological counterparts, MIP offer different advantages such as simplicity in manufacturing and durability.

4. Any of many plastic-degrading enzymes: ones capable of catalyzing the breakdown of bonds in synthetic polymers. Some have evolved in nature (within plastivores) and others have been bioengineered.
   • 2023, Donya Afshar Jahanshahi, Shohreh Ariaeenejad, Kaveh Kavousi, “A metagenomic catalog for exploring the plastizymes landscape covering taxa, genes, and proteins”, in Scientific Reports, volume 13, page 16029:

     This study presents the first integrated reference catalog of plastic-contaminated environments obtained using an insilico workflow that could play a significant role in discovering new plastizymes. […] This research presents a comprehensive overview of an integrated plastic-contaminated environment reference catalog that includes taxa, genes, proteins, and plastic-degrading enzymes (plastizymes).]

   • 2024, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, “Novel plastizymes: discovery and improvement of plastic-degrading enzymes by integrated cycles of computational and experimental approaches”, in Gateway to Research website, a service of UK Research and Innovation‎^[2], retrieved 2024-04-06:

     […] improving our in silico selection protocol. We have performed pilot work on PETases and will build on this and extend to other plastic degrading enzymes (plastizymes). […] Our multidisciplinary approach will identify novel plastizymes from MGnify and experimentally test for degradation of various plastics (PET, PA, PCL, PU). We will use metagenomic and metatranscriptomic assembly to provide a comprehensive set of target enzymes, retrieved from a broad range of environments.