001031968 001__ 1031968 001031968 005__ 20250306205818.0 001031968 0247_ $$2datacite_doi$$a10.34734/FZJ-2024-05892 001031968 0247_ $$2URN$$aurn:nbn:de:0001-2503060801542.370078637444 001031968 020__ $$a978-3-95806-804-9 001031968 037__ $$aFZJ-2024-05892 001031968 1001_ $$0P:(DE-Juel1)184781$$ade Witt, Jan$$b0$$ufzj 001031968 245__ $$aBiodegradation and microbial upcycling of plastics$$f- 2024-10-17 001031968 260__ $$aJülich$$bForschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag$$c2024 001031968 300__ $$aXVI, 259 001031968 3367_ $$2DataCite$$aOutput Types/Dissertation 001031968 3367_ $$0PUB:(DE-HGF)3$$2PUB:(DE-HGF)$$aBook$$mbook 001031968 3367_ $$2ORCID$$aDISSERTATION 001031968 3367_ $$2BibTeX$$aPHDTHESIS 001031968 3367_ $$02$$2EndNote$$aThesis 001031968 3367_ $$0PUB:(DE-HGF)11$$2PUB:(DE-HGF)$$aDissertation / PhD Thesis$$bphd$$mphd$$s1740044598_16597 001031968 3367_ $$2DRIVER$$adoctoralThesis 001031968 4900_ $$aSchriften des Forschungszentrums Jülich Reihe Schlüsseltechnologien / Key Technologies$$v289 001031968 502__ $$aDissertation, Düsseldorf, 2024$$bDissertation$$cDüsseldorf$$d2024 001031968 520__ $$aPlastics have undoubtedly revolutionized our daily lives, becoming irreplaceable in several sectors, including packaging, healthcare, and automotive industries. However, current endof- life strategies cannot cope with the increasing global production, which exceeded 400 million tons in 2022, leading to a global plastic pollution crisis. Biological catalysis has the potential to overcome the drawbacks of conventional recycling, using enzymes and microbes for the depolymerization of plastics and their subsequent conversion to value-added compounds. To facilitate the transition towards a circular plastics economy, the overall goal of this thesis is to provide new biological end-of-life solutions for plastics. Therefore, the substrate range of the biotechnological workhorse Pseudomonas putida KT2440 was expanded with prevalent plastic hydrolysates providing them as feedstock for microbial upcycling. Deep metabolic engineering enabled the utilization of polyamide (PA) hydrolysates as a carbon source, while RNA-sequencing revealed the synthetic metabolic routes and how they mesh with the native metabolism. In parallel, new nylonase enzymes were discovered and characterized that showed activities towards PA and poly(esteramides). In addition to PA-derived compounds, metabolic routes for dicarboxylic acids and diols were established and their combination yielded a powerful platform strain that fully metabolized a complex polyester mock hydrolysate. Moreover, rational metabolic design enabled the degradation of branched short-chain dicarboxylates, including itaconic acid, thereby further expanding the metabolic palette of Pseudomonas with plastic monomers. To close the life cycle of plastic waste, hydrolysates should not only be metabolized but also upcycled. This was achieved by converting the newly accessible plastic-derived feedstocks into polyhydroxyalkanoates, demonstrating, among others, the conversion of nylon to polyhydroxybutyrate through hydrolysis and microbial conversion. The resulting products are environmentally benign due to their biodegradability and resources are maintained in the material cycle, reducing the production of virgin fossil-based plastics. With regard to a circular plastics economy, it is essential to consider plastic coatings as an additional source of complexity in plastic waste. For this, the novel Halopseudomonas formosensis FZJ was isolated from a compost heap due to its ability to metabolize poly(ester-urethane) coatings. The detailed characterization of its metabolic pathways and enzymes provides the scientific basis for future bio-recycling processes of coated plastics and thus increasingly complex materials. 001031968 536__ $$0G:(DE-HGF)POF4-2172$$a2172 - Utilization of renewable carbon and energy sources and engineering of ecosystem functions (POF4-217)$$cPOF4-217$$fPOF IV$$x0 001031968 8564_ $$uhttps://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1031968/files/Schluesseltech_289.pdf$$yOpenAccess 001031968 909CO $$ooai:juser.fz-juelich.de:1031968$$popenaire$$popen_access$$purn$$pdriver$$pVDB$$pdnbdelivery 001031968 915__ $$0StatID:(DE-HGF)0510$$2StatID$$aOpenAccess 001031968 915__ $$0LIC:(DE-HGF)CCBY4$$2HGFVOC$$aCreative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 001031968 9141_ $$y2024 001031968 9101_ $$0I:(DE-588b)5008462-8$$6P:(DE-Juel1)184781$$aForschungszentrum Jülich$$b0$$kFZJ 001031968 9131_ $$0G:(DE-HGF)POF4-217$$1G:(DE-HGF)POF4-210$$2G:(DE-HGF)POF4-200$$3G:(DE-HGF)POF4$$4G:(DE-HGF)POF$$9G:(DE-HGF)POF4-2172$$aDE-HGF$$bForschungsbereich Erde und Umwelt$$lErde im Wandel – Unsere Zukunft nachhaltig gestalten$$vFür eine nachhaltige Bio-Ökonomie – von Ressourcen zu Produkten$$x0 001031968 920__ $$lyes 001031968 9201_ $$0I:(DE-Juel1)IBG-1-20101118$$kIBG-1$$lBiotechnologie$$x0 001031968 980__ $$aphd 001031968 980__ $$aVDB 001031968 980__ $$aUNRESTRICTED 001031968 980__ $$abook 001031968 980__ $$aI:(DE-Juel1)IBG-1-20101118 001031968 9801_ $$aFullTexts