Ren WeiUniversity of Greifswald · Institute of Biochemistry
Ren Wei
Dr. rer. nat.
About
103
Publications
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Introduction
Our research group is working on isolation, characterization, and engineering of a wide range of enzymes with depolymerization activities on synthetic polymers. With our concept, we are aiming at a sustainable biobased circular plastic economy.
Additional affiliations
September 2019 - present
August 2017 - August 2019
Education
October 2007 - January 2012
August 2006 - April 2007
October 2002 - July 2007
Publications
Publications (103)
Considerable research achievements were made to address the plastic crisis using biotechnology, but this is still limited to polyesters. This Comment aims to clarify important aspects related to myths and realities about plastic biodegradation and suggests distinct strategies for a bio-based circular plastic economy in the future.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most
widespread synthetic polyester, having been utilized in textile
fibers and packaging materials for beverages and food, contributing
considerably to the global solid waste stream and environmental
plastic pollution. While enzymatic PET recycling and upcycling
have recently emerged as viable disposal metho...
Thermophilic polyester hydrolases (PES-H) have recently enabled biocatalytic recycling of the mass-produced synthetic polyester polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which has found widespread use in the packaging and textile industries. The growing demand for efficient PET hydrolases prompted us to solve high-resolution crystal structures of two metag...
TfCa, a promiscuous carboxylesterase from Thermobifida fusca, was found to hydrolyze polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degradation intermediates such as bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) and mono-(2-hydroxyethyl)-terephthalate (MHET). In this study, we elucidated the structures of TfCa in its apo form, as well as in complex with a PET monomer...
Biotechnological recycling offers a promising solution to address the environmental concerns associated with waste plastics, particularly polyethylene terephthalate (PET), widely utilized in packaging materials and textiles. To advance the development of a bio‐based circular plastic economy, innovative upcycling strategies capable of generating hig...
Branched aromatic α-amino acids are valuable building blocks in natural products and pharmaceutically active compounds. However, their chemical or enzymatic synthesis is challenging due to the presence of two stereocenters. We design phenylalanine ammonia lyases (PAL) variants for the direct asymmetric synthesis of β-branched aromatic α-amino acids...
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most widely used plastic materials in the food and textile industry. Consequently, post-consumer PET waste is a common environmental pollutant that leaks into the environment in the form of macro and microplastics with concerning health impacts. There is a pressing need to identify novel and sustainabl...
Polyethylene (PE) is the most commonly used plastic type in the world, contributing significantly to the plastic waste crisis. Microbial degradation of PE in natural environments is unlikely due to its inert saturated carbon‐carbon backbones, which are difficult to break down by enzymes, challenging the development of a biocatalytic recycling metho...
Polyethylene (PE) is the most commonly used plastic type in the world, contributing significantly to the plastic waste crisis. Microbial degradation of PE in natural environments is unlikely due to its inert saturated carbon‐carbon backbones, which are difficult to break down by enzymes, challenging the development of a biocatalytic recycling metho...
While plastics like polyethylene terephthalate can already be degraded efficiently by the activity of hydrolases, other synthetic polymers like polyurethanes (PUs) and polyamides (PAs) largely resist biodegradation. In this study, we solved the first crystal structure of the metagenomic urethanase UMG‐SP‐1, identified highly flexible loop regions t...
While plastics like polyethylene terephthalate can already be degraded efficiently by the activity of hydrolases, other synthetic polymers like polyurethanes (PUs) and polyamides (PAs) largely resist biodegradation. In this study, we solved the first crystal structure of the metagenomic urethanase UMG‐SP‐1, identified highly flexible loop regions t...
This article presents an overview of the evolution, impact, and challenges of plastics, focusing on the difficulties in recycling processes and introducing biocatalytic technologies as a promising solution for efficient plastic degradation. While there are many obstacles in accessability of plastics for enzymatic degradation, recent achievements in...
In the last decades, biocatalysis has offered new perspectives for the synthesis of (chiral) amines, which are essential building blocks for pharmaceuticals, fine and bulk chemicals. In this regard, amidases have been employed due to their broad substrate scope and their independence from expensive cofactors. To expand the repertoire of amidases, t...
Carboxylic ester hydrolases with the capacity to degrade polyesters are currently highly sought after for their potential use in the biological degradation of PET and other chemically synthesized polymers. Here, we describe MarCE, a carboxylesterase family protein identified via genome mining of a Maribacter sp. isolate from the marine sponge Stell...
Enzymatic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, has attracted significant attention in recent years. Temperature is a governing factor in the enzymatic degradation of PET, influencing simultaneously the catalytic activity and thermal stability of enzymes, as well as the biodegradability of PET materials from many perspectives. Here we pre...
Plastic-degrading enzymes hold promise for biocatalytic recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), a key synthetic polymer. Despite their potential, the current activity of PET hydrolases is not sufficient for industrial use. To unlock their full potential, a deep mechanistic understanding followed by protein engineering is required. Using cu...
Plastic degradation by biological systems emerges as a prospective avenue for addressing the pressing global concern of plastic waste accumulation. The intricate chemical compositions and diverse structural facets inherent to polyurethanes (PU) substantially increase the complexity associated with PU waste management. Despite the extensive research...
Biotechnologisches Recycling bietet eine vielversprechende Lösung für die Umweltprobleme im Zusammenhang mit Kunststoffabfällen, insbesondere für Polyethylenterephthalat (PET), das häufig in Verpackungsmaterialien und Textilien verwendet wird. Um die Entwicklung einer biobasierten Kreislaufwirtschaft für Kunststoffe voranzutreiben, sind innovative...
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a widely used polyester due to its beneficial material properties and low cost. However, PET contributes significantly to the growing problem of plastic waste pollution. Enzymatic PET recycling has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional mechanical and chemical recycling methods. While many PET hydrola...
Microorganisms capable of decomposing polyurethane (PU) and other plastics have the potential to be used in bio-recycling processes. In this study, 20 PU-degrading strains were isolated, including 11 bacteria and 9 fungi, using a synthesized poly(1,4-butylene adipate)-based PU (PBA-PU) as the screening substrate. Three PU substrates with increasing...
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a water‐soluble synthetic vinyl polymer with remarkable physical properties including thermostability and viscosity. Its biodegradability, however, is low even though a large amount of PVA is released into the environment. Established physical‐chemical degradation methods for PVA have several disadvantages such as high...
The large amount of waste synthetic polyester plastics has complicated waste management and also endangering the environment due to improper littering. In this study, a novel carboxylesterase from Thermobacillus composti KWC4 (Tcca) was identified, heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and characterized with various plastic substra...
Enzymatic degradation and recycling can reduce the environmental impact of plastics. Despite decades of research, no enzymes for the efficient hydrolysis of polyurethanes have been reported. Whereas the hydrolysis of the ester bonds in polyester‐polyurethanes by cutinases is known, the urethane bonds in polyether‐polyurethanes have remained inacces...
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a water‐soluble synthetic vinyl polymer with remarkable physical properties including thermostability and viscosity. Its biodegradability, however, is low even though a large amount of PVA is released into the environment. Established physical‐chemical degradation methods for PVA have several disadvantages such as high...
Enzymatic degradation and recycling can reduce the environmental impact of plastics. Despite decades of research, no enzymes for the efficient hydrolysis of polyurethanes have been reported. Whereas the hydrolysis of the ester bonds in polyester‐polyurethanes by cutinases is known, the urethane bonds in polyether‐polyurethanes have remained inacces...
Enzymatic hydrolysis holds great promise for plastic waste recycling and upcycling. The interfacial catalysis mode, and the variability of polymer specimen properties under different degradation conditions, add to the complexity and difficulty of understanding polymer cleavage and engineering better biocatalysts. We present a systemic approach to s...
Fast screening of enzyme variants is crucial for tailoring biocatalysts for the asymmetric synthesis of non-natural chiral chemicals, such as amines. However, most existing screening methods either are limited by the throughput or require specialized equipment. Herein, we report a simple, high-throughput, low-equipment dependent, and generally appl...
In this issue of Chem Catalysis, Graham et al. report on how carbohydrate-binding modules tethered to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) hydrolases affect enzymatic plastic degradation. With their work, they stand out from previous studies performed in the low solid-loading range by considering real-world applications and concisely delineating the en...
Due to the promise of more sustainable recycling of plastics through biocatalytic degradation, the search for and engineering of polyester hydrolases have become a thriving field of research. Furthermore, among other methods, halo formation assays have become popular for the detection of polyester-hydrolase activity. However, established halo-forma...
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most commonly used thermoplastic polyester on a global scale. Due to its high resistance to various physical and chemical factors, PET waste can persist for a very long time period in natural ecosystems where it can cause serious environmental pollution and ecological disasters. Within the framework of the ci...
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most abundantly produced synthetic polyesters. The vast number of waste plastics including PET has challenged the waste management sector while also posing a serious threat to the environment due to improper littering. Recently, enzymatic PET degradation has been shown to be a viable option for a circu...
Laccases are regarded as versatile green biocatalysts, and recent scientific research has focused on improving their redox potential for broader industrial and environmental applications. The density functional theory (DFT) quantum mechanics approach, sufficiently rigorous and efficient for the calculation of electronic structures, is conducted to...
Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) is a biodegradable alternative to polyethylene and can be broadly used in various applications. These polymers can be degraded by hydrolases of terrestrial and aquatic origin. In a previous study, we identified tandem PETase-like hydrolases (Ples) from the marine microbial consortium I1 that were highly exp...
The environmental degradation and physical aging of microplastics (MP) caused by oxidative stress have not been thoroughly elucidated. In this study, we used different oxidative agents (Fe²⁺-activated peroxymonosulfate and Fenton reagents) that can form free radicals to study the degradation mechanisms of nylon 6 (PA6) and polystyrene (PS) MPs. Aft...
In the Anthropocene, plastic pollution is a worldwide concern that must be tackled from different viewpoints, bringing together different areas of science. Microbial transformation of polymers is a broad-spectrum research topic that has become a keystone in the circular economy of fossil-based and biobased plastics. To have an open discussion about...
Polyurethane (PU) is one of the mass-produced recalcitrant plastics with a high environmental resistance but extremely low biodegradability. Therefore, improperly disposed PU waste adds significantly to plastic pollution, which must be addressed immediately. In recent years, there has been an increasing number of reports on plastic biodegradation i...
Plastic waste imposes a serious problem to the environment and society. Hence, strategies for a circular plastic economy are demanded. One strategy is the engineering of polyester hydrolases towards higher activity for the biotechnological recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). To provide tools for the rapid characterization of PET hydrolas...
The plastic crisis requires drastic measures, especially for the plastics’ end-of-life. Mixed plastic fractions are currently difficult to recycle, but microbial metabolism might open new pathways. With new technologies for degradation of plastics to oligo- and monomers, these carbon sources can be used in biotechnology for the upcycling of plastic...
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a mass-produced petroleum-based non-biodegradable plastic that contributes to the global plastic pollution. Recently, biocatalytic degradation has emerged as a viable recycling approach for PET waste, especially with thermophilic polyester hydrolases such as a cutinase (LCC) isolated from a leaf-branch compost me...
This article introduces the EU Horizon 2020 research project MIX-UP, "Mixed plastics biodegradation and upcycling using microbial communities". The project focuses on changing the traditional linear value chain of plastics to a sustainable, biodegradable based one. Plastic mixtures contain five of the top six fossil-based recalcitrant plastics [pol...
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a mass-produced petroleum-based synthetic polymer. Enzymatic PET degradation using, for example, Ideonella sakaiensis PETase (IsPETase) can be a more environmentally friendly and energy-saving alternative to the chemical recycling of PET. However, IsPETase is a mesophilic enzyme with an optimal reaction temperatu...
Recalcitrant plastic waste has caused serious global ecological problems. There is an urgent need to develop environmentally friendly and efficient methods for degrading the highly stable carbon skeleton structure of plastics. To that end, we used a quantum mechanical calculation to thoroughly investigate the oxidative scission of the carbon-carbon...
Over 359 million tons of plastics were produced worldwide in 2018, with significant growth expected in the near future, resulting in the global challenge of end-of-life management. The recent identification of enzymes that degrade plastics previously considered non-biodegradable opens up opportunities to steer the plastic recycling industry into th...
Plastics are globally used for a variety of benefits. As a consequence of poor recycling or reuse, improperly disposed plastic waste accumulates in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to a considerable extent. Large plastic waste items become fragmented to small particles through mechanical and (photo)chemical processes. Particles with sizes ranging...
This article introduces the EU Horizon 2020 research project MIX-UP, “Mixed plastics biodegradation and upcycling using microbial communities”. The project focuses on the ambitious vision to change the traditional linear value chain of plastics to a sustainable, biodegradable based one. In MIX-UP, plastic mixtures containing five of the top six fos...
Polyurethanes (PUR) are ranked globally as the 6th most abundant synthetic polymer material. Most PUR materials are specifically designed to ensure long-term durability and high resistance to environmental factors. As the demand for diverse PUR materials is increasing annually in many industrial sectors, a large amount of PUR waste is also being ge...
Although recovery of fibers from used textiles with retained material quality is desired, separation of individual components from polymer blends used in today's complex textile materials is currently not available at viable scale. Biotechnology could provide a solution to this pressing problem by enabling selective depolymerization of recyclable f...
The biocatalytic degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by thermophilic microbial enzymes has recently emerged as an option for a future eco-friendly recycling process for plastic waste, as it occurs under mild conditions and requires no harmful additives. In this chapter, we present a brief overview of solution and solid-state nuclear mag...
Biocatalysis has recently emerged as a powerful and eco-friendly technology in waste plastic recycling, especially for the widely used polyethylene terephthalate (PET). So far, however, a high-throughput screening assay specifically toward PET-hydrolyzing activity has rarely been applied. This hinders the identification of new polyester hydrolases...
Enzymatic hydrolysis of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is considered to be an environmentally friendly method for the recycling of plastic waste. Recently, a bacterial enzyme named IsPETase was found in Ideonella sakaiensis with the ability to degrade amorphous PET at ambient temperature suggesting its possible use in recycling of PET. However, a...
Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most widespread plastic materials. Nevertheless, due to its recalcitrance against
biological degradation and the presence of toxic additives, landfilled and carelessly disposed PE products have
caused serious pollution in the natural environments. In this work, we aimed to investigate the growth characteristics
of Mi...
The biocatalytic degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) emerged recently as a promising alternative plastic recycling method. However, limited activity of previously known enzymes against post-consumer PET materials still prevents the application on an industrial scale. In this study, the influence of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation as a pote...
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a mass‐produced synthetic polyester contributing remarkably to the accumulation of solid plastics waste and plastics pollution in the natural environments. Recently, bioremediation of plastics waste using engineered enzymes has emerged as an eco‐friendly alternative approach for the future plastic circular econom...
Over 359 million tons of plastics were produced worldwide in 2018, with significant growth expected in the near future, resulting in the global challenge of end-of-life management. The recent identification of enzymes that degrade plastics previously considered non-biodegradable opens up opportunities to steer the plastic recycling industry into th...
Joo et al. have recently reported a crystal structure of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) hydrolyzing enzyme (IsPETase) from Ideonella sakaiensis which has been described able to metabolize PET at 30 °C. They proposed a PET degradation mechanism solely based on covalent computational docking of an oligomeric substrate—2-hydroxyethyl-(monohydroxye...