Ideonella sakaiensis produces an enzyme, PETase, that is capable of hydrolyzing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. We demonstrate that although I. sakaiensis can grow on amorphous plastic, it does not grow on highly crystalline plastic under otherwise identical conditions. Both amorphous film and amorphous plastic obtained from commercial food containers support the growth of the bacteria, whereas highly crystalline film and the highly crystalline body of a plastic water bottle do not support growth. Highly crystalline PET can be melted and rapidly cooled to make amorphous plastic which then supports bacterial growth, whereas the same plastic can be melted and slowly cooled to make crystalline plastic which does not support growth. We further subject a plastic water bottle to a top‐to‐bottom analysis, finding that only amorphous sections are degraded, namely the finish (threading), the topmost portion of the shoulder which connects to the finish, and the area immediately surrounding the centre of the base. Finally, we use these results to estimate that the percentage of non‐degradable plastic in plastic water bottles ranges from 52% to 82% (depending on size), demonstrating that most of the plastic found in PET water bottles will not be degraded by I. sakaiensis.

中文翻译：

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在塑料水瓶中发现的高度结晶的PET不支持产生PETase的细菌大阪海产伊德氏菌的生长。

阪神伊德氏菌产生一种酶PETase，该酶能够水解聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（PET）塑料。我们证明了，尽管我。坂井可以在无定形塑料上生长，在其他相同条件下，则不能在高结晶塑料上生长。从商业食品容器中获得的无定形薄膜和无定形塑料都支持细菌的生长，而塑料水瓶的高结晶性薄膜和高结晶体均不支持细菌的生长。可以将高度结晶的PET熔融并快速冷却，以制成无定形塑料，然后该无定形塑料可以支持细菌的生长，而可以将相同的塑料熔融并缓慢冷却，以制备不支持生长的结晶塑料。我们进一步对一个塑料水瓶进行了从上到下的分析，发现只有无定形部分被降解，即饰面（螺纹），连接饰面的肩部最高部分，以及紧靠基地中心的区域。最后，我们使用这些结果来估算塑料水瓶中不可降解塑料的百分比范围为52％至82％（取决于尺寸），这表明PET水瓶中发现的大多数塑料都不会被降解。我。sakaiensis。