Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Climate Change and Plastic Waste Pollution are currently threatening all of us. Today, we will see whether we can stop climate change (CO2 emissions) and end plastic waste by plastic-eating or CO2 consuming bacteria.
0:00-0:47 Intro
0:47-5:08 Plastic-eating Bacteria
5:08-8:12 CO2 Breathing GMOs
🔬 Subscribe for more awesome biomedical research: bit.ly/2SRMqhC
🔬Me being funny on other media:
Twitter: twitter.com/CSteinek
Discord: discord.gg/9VKnTSF
Let's talk about plastic-eating bacteria first. Plastic is a term which describes a group of synthetitc polymers. Since plastic is very stable it can remain in the environment for centuries. A few years ago,
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-digesting enzymes were discovered. Ideonella sakaiensis is a microorganism which is able to degrade PET plastic (PETase). A team of scientists have applied directed evolution to make PETase much more efficient in destroying PET. Later, a protein called LCC was found to be even more efficient then PET. By applying directed evolution once more, LCC was made 10.000 times more efficient.
Besides PET destroying proteins, we can also try to tackle greenhouse gase emissions by synthetic biology. In principle, we can introduce plant genes into Escherichia coli to enable it to perform photosynthesis. In this process, Escherichia coli would become an autotroph. This technology is rather inefficient but scientists are trying to see whether it can be improved.
For your reading:
Tournier, V., et al. "An engineered PET depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles." Nature 580.7802 (2020): 216-219.
Gleizer, Shmuel, et al. "Conversion of Escherichia coli to generate all biomass carbon from CO2." Cell 179.6 (2019): 1255-1263.
Austin, Harry P., et al. "Characterization and engineering of a plastic-degrading aromatic polyesterase." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115.19 (2018): E4350-E4357.
Images:
Some pictures were derived from Servier Medical Art by Servier. You can find over 3000 free medical images here: smart.servier.com
Escherichia coli by IDKlab, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cyanobacteria by DBCLS, CC BY 3.0
Arabidopsis by Charles Andrès, CC BY-SA 3.0
Music:
Intro:
Light Sting by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com
Body:
Title: Outside Visitors
Artist: The Illstrumentalist
Title: Buddha by Kontekst
Genre and Mood: Hip Hop & Rap + Bright
Artist: incompetech.com
Title: Not For Nothing
Artist: Otis McDonald
About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a postgraduate student/youtuber (LifeLabLearner) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.
Climate Change and Plastic Waste Pollution are currently threatening all of us. Today, we will see whether we can stop climate change (CO2 emissions) and end plastic waste by plastic-eating or CO2 consuming bacteria.
0:00-0:47 Intro
0:47-5:08 Plastic-eating Bacteria
5:08-8:12 CO2 Breathing GMOs
🔬 Subscribe for more awesome biomedical research: bit.ly/2SRMqhC
🔬Me being funny on other media:
Twitter: twitter.com/CSteinek
Discord: discord.gg/9VKnTSF
Let's talk about plastic-eating bacteria first. Plastic is a term which describes a group of synthetitc polymers. Since plastic is very stable it can remain in the environment for centuries. A few years ago,
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-digesting enzymes were discovered. Ideonella sakaiensis is a microorganism which is able to degrade PET plastic (PETase). A team of scientists have applied directed evolution to make PETase much more efficient in destroying PET. Later, a protein called LCC was found to be even more efficient then PET. By applying directed evolution once more, LCC was made 10.000 times more efficient.
Besides PET destroying proteins, we can also try to tackle greenhouse gase emissions by synthetic biology. In principle, we can introduce plant genes into Escherichia coli to enable it to perform photosynthesis. In this process, Escherichia coli would become an autotroph. This technology is rather inefficient but scientists are trying to see whether it can be improved.
For your reading:
Tournier, V., et al. "An engineered PET depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles." Nature 580.7802 (2020): 216-219.
Gleizer, Shmuel, et al. "Conversion of Escherichia coli to generate all biomass carbon from CO2." Cell 179.6 (2019): 1255-1263.
Austin, Harry P., et al. "Characterization and engineering of a plastic-degrading aromatic polyesterase." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115.19 (2018): E4350-E4357.
Images:
Some pictures were derived from Servier Medical Art by Servier. You can find over 3000 free medical images here: smart.servier.com
Escherichia coli by IDKlab, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cyanobacteria by DBCLS, CC BY 3.0
Arabidopsis by Charles Andrès, CC BY-SA 3.0
Music:
Intro:
Light Sting by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com
Body:
Title: Outside Visitors
Artist: The Illstrumentalist
Title: Buddha by Kontekst
Genre and Mood: Hip Hop & Rap + Bright
Artist: incompetech.com
Title: Not For Nothing
Artist: Otis McDonald
About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a postgraduate student/youtuber (LifeLabLearner) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.
