A team of researchers led by Frances Arnold, a 50Y portfolio founder and Fifty 50 alumni, at Caltech has engineered a groundbreaking enzyme capable of breaking down the carbon-silicon bonds in siloxanes under mild conditions. Published in Science Magazine, this enzyme, developed through directed evolution, represents a significant step towards making these persistent environmental pollutants biodegradable and could potentially be used to treat siloxane contaminants in wastewater. This achievement builds upon Arnold's previous 2016 discovery of an enzyme to create carbon-silicon bonds and has been celebrated as a major advancement in environmental biotechnology.
For the first time, scientists have engineered an enzyme that can break the stubborn man-made bonds between silicon and carbon that exist in widely used chemicals known as siloxanes, or silicones. Learn more: https://t.co/xzM3C19c6g https://t.co/mY5kWS0iEg
First you find an enzyme that can make carbon-silicon bonds. 8 years later, you find one that cleaves carbon-silicon bonds under mild conditions — not possible with any previous catalyst or enzyme! @NicholasSarai @ryenomeara @TylerFulton13 @Sabine_BC @francesarnold https://t.co/fBzlo9o9xq
Arnold Lab Uses Directed Evolution to Create Siloxane-Busting Enzyme Researchers suggest further improved versions of laboratory-evolved enzymes could possibly be used to treat siloxane contaminants in wastewater. Learn more: https://t.co/xzM3C19c6g https://t.co/6Pal0E9S2v
ANOTHER AWESOME BREAKTHROUGH!! Teaching Nature to Break Man-made Chemical Bonds - a first step toward rendering siloxanes and silicones, which can linger in the environment, biodegradable. https://t.co/K0nzex2FPJ https://t.co/OCkfEuO4GI
This kind of seems like a really big deal - making plastics biodegradable. Very exciting. https://t.co/buUUacAJHl
Incredible work from Fifty 50 alumni @NicholasSarai and 50Y portfolio founder @francesarnold! They discovered a new enzyme that lays the groundwork to make a common pollutant biodegradable. https://t.co/rPF5oB2ZnU
When we published the first #enzyme to MAKE carbon-silicon bonds back in 2016, some people asked us to BREAK them, so these man-made compounds would not persist in the environment. We finally made the first steps toward that: https://t.co/9Mg6mWxtc4
We are thrilled to present a new #enzyme to the world, the first shown to break the man-made carbon-silicon bonds in #siloxanes, which are persistent in the environment. https://t.co/BJOuWk4WGW
During my PhD with @francesarnold @Caltech we taught nature to break man-made bonds. Excited to share our report in @sciencemagazine using #directedevolution to engineer the first #enzyme that can cleave silicon–carbon bonds in non-biodegradable siloxanes! https://t.co/2c5664U9Rf