Biochemical Upcycling of PET via Glycolysis and Engineered Microbial Consortia
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste remains a major environmental challenge due to its recalcitrance and low economic value. Here, we present an integrated biochemical approach that couples glycolysis with a synthetic microbial consortium to upcycle PET into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Glycolys...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::864fe94632dae4b9f2bd8d6996676d50 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/431180 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Comamonas testosteroni Glycolysis Microbial consortia Plastic waste upcycling Pseudomonas putida |
| Sumario: | Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste remains a major environmental challenge due to its recalcitrance and low economic value. Here, we present an integrated biochemical approach that couples glycolysis with a synthetic microbial consortium to upcycle PET into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Glycolysis efficiently depolymerized post-consumer PET into bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) in 2 h, circumventing the limitations of in vivo PET degradation. We engineered a two-species microbial consortium composed of Comamonas testosteroni RW31, able to metabolize terephthalic acid, and Pseudomonas putida JM37, able to consume ethylene glycol, each modified for the extracellular secretion of PET- and MHET-hydrolases, employing different plasmid architectures. This division of labour creates a metabolic co-dependency, enabling rapid BHET hydrolysis and the subsequent upcycling of the released monomers into PHAs. The combination of the different strains allowed us to select C. testosteroni pSEVA354-MHETase and P. putida pSEVA234-PETase as the best consortium combination, based on growth and PHAs content. Overall, this work proposes a strategy for PET waste depolymerisation and valorisation, highlighting the potential of mixed chemical and biological approaches and the use of non-conventional microbial chassis within engineered consortia |
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