Enzymatic cleavage of the carbon backbone in natural rubber and chemosynthetic hydrocarbon polymers

Prof. Dr. Dieter Jendrossek, Universität Stuttgart

Natural rubber [poly(cis-1,4-isoprene)] is produced in annual quantities of ≈107 tons by cultivating the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) by more than 100 years. The material – after chemical modification (vulcanization) – is used for numerous purposes and is present e. g. in tires, sealings, rubber clothes, latex gloves, condoms and many other items. As a natural material, rubber is biodegradable to water and carbon dioxide. Biodegradation of polyisoprene is initiated by microbial rubber oxygenases that oxidatively cleave the polyisoprene C=C-bonds yielding low molecular products. I will describe the properties of rubber oxygenases at the example of rubber oxygenase A (RoxA). In the second part, I will comment on the persuasiveness of the rapidly expanding research field of biodegradation of polyethylene (PE) and related hydrocarbon polymers (PP, PVC).