Plastic pollution is becoming a major health issue due to the recent discovery of microplastics and nanoplastics in living organisms and the environment, calling for advanced technologies to remove plastic waste. Here we review enzymes that degrade plastics with focus on plastic properties, protein engineering and polymers such as poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate), poly(lactic acid), polyamide and polyurethane. The mechanism of action of natural and engineered enzymes has been probed by experimental and computation approaches. The performance of polyester-degrading enzymes has been improved via directed evolution, structure-guided rational design and machine learning-aided strategies. The improved enzymes display higher stability at elevated temperatures, and tailored substrate-binding sites.

由于最近在生物体和环境中发现了微塑料和纳米塑料，塑料污染正在成为一个主要的健康问题，需要先进的技术来消除塑料废物。在这里，我们回顾了降解塑料的酶，重点关注塑料特性、蛋白质工程和聚合物，如聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯、聚己二酸-对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯、聚乳酸、聚酰胺和聚氨酯。天然酶和工程酶的作用机制已通过实验和计算方法进行了探讨。通过定向进化、结构引导的理性设计和机器学习辅助策略，聚酯降解酶的性能得到了改善。改进的酶在高温下表现出更高的稳定性，并具有定制的底物结合位点。