In honor of Plastic Free July, allow me to introduce PETase! PETase is an enzyme that eats plastic. Specifically, it dines on polyethylene terephthalate, the kind of plastic that most "disposable" water bottles are made of. from PDB 5XJH PETase was recently discovered (in 2016) in species of bacteria called Ideonella sakaiensis. It's believed that …
Meet Beta-Lactamase!
Have you ever been sick with strep-throat? Pneumonia? Food poisoning? A UTI? You visit your doctor and she says your illness is a bacterial infection, so she is prescribing you some antibiotics. She instructs you to take your entire round of antibiotics, all the way to the last dose, even if you start feeling better. …