Authors
Zilong Wang, Seokjung Cheong, Hai Wang, Jeremy Demarteau, Alexander R Epstein, Baishakhi Bose, Weixi Hu, Matthias Schmidt, Leah Keiser, Mei Zhao, Beibei Ge, Alberto A Nava, Ramu Kakumanu, Edward E K Baidoo, Yan Chen, Christopher J Petzold, Yifan Guo, Nawa Raj Baral, Nemi Vora, Sarah L Nordahl, Yuzhong Liu, Rithwik Ghanta, Pablo Cruz-Morales, Kevin Yin, Robert W Haushalter, Kristin A Persson, Corinne D Scown, Brett A Helms, Jay D Keasling
Published in
Nature biotechnology. Jul 27, 2026. Epub Jul 27, 2026.
Abstract
Plastics derived from fossil feedstocks pose major recycling challenges, particularly crosslinked thermosets used in electronics, construction and composites. Polydiketoenamines (PDKs) are recyclable alternatives; however, monomers such as dimedone are petrochemical-derived and offer limited tunability. We computationally screened 144 β-keto-δ-lactones (BKDLs), identifying solvation free energy as the primary determinant of depolymerization temperature across a 20-60 °C range. We engineered hybrid type I polyketide synthases (PKSs) in Escherichia coli and Streptomyces hosts to biosynthesize BKDLs with diverse substituents and defined stereochemistry, reaching titers of 1.84 g L-1 in bioreactors. Polymerization of chemically synthesized BKDLs identical to PKS products confirmed tunable glass transition temperatures (53-98 °C) and temperature-gated depolymerization. Different BKDLs yielded PDKs with thermal, mechanical, solvent-resistance and optical properties governed by substituent and chirality. Technoeconomic and life-cycle analyses indicate that corn-stover-derived BKDLs can outperform petrochemical dimedone on cost and greenhouse gas emissions. This study demonstrates that engineered PKSs can produce monomers for recyclable plastics with programmable depolymerization behavior.
PMID:
42509484
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Jul 2026.
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