Structural insights of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) depolymerases

Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate), PBAT, is one of the most popular plastics nowadays and is becoming a large burden to the environment when PBAT waste is accumulated. Biodegradation of PBAT is an environmentally friendly method to treat PBAT waste. In the past two decades, a couple of microbial strains or mixed strains have been chemically characterized. From this, many PBAT depolymerases have been isolated and further structurally determined. The review we focused on the PBAT depolymerases that have been structurally characterized, including lipases, esterases, and cutinases. We also discussed which shape of the substrate-binding tunnels is beneficial for recognizing and decomposing polymer chains of PBAT, which would be important guidance in directing the designation of PBAT depolymerases.