Engineering

Full documentation of TfCut2 engineering and mutagenesis for enhanced plastic and textile degradation.

Mutation Background

In our project, we selected specific mutations in the TfCut2 enzyme to explore their potential for enhancing plastic degradation...

  • Thermostability
  • Residues around active sites
  • Computational models

Thermal Stability

Thermostability is critical for degrading PET and PBAT...

  • S121P/D174S/D204P:
    • Melting temp: 80.7°C
    • Reduces hydrogen bonding
  • D204C/E253C:
    • Disulfide bond enhances stability

Active Site and Binding Mutations

  • G62A: Reduces MHET binding
  • L90A: Enhances cotton/PET binding

Visualization with PyMOL

We used AlphaFold and PyMOL to dock ligands and visualize key interactions...

Understanding Byproducts

  • Substrate interaction analysis
  • Bond cleavage mapping

Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA)

  • Conserved catalytic residues identified
  • Guided rational mutagenesis

Alanine Scanning Mutagenesis (ASM)

High-impact vs low-impact residues ("head" vs "hair") were tested...

Site Saturation Mutagenesis (SSM)

Each chosen site was mutated into all 20 amino acids; filtered by binding and structure.

Mutants from DBTL Cycle 1

  • G62A/P193H/S197D: forms catalytic triad, reduces MHET inhibition
  • H77R/D204C/E253C: disulfide bridge-stabilized

Citations:

  • Li, Q., et al. (2022)...
  • Wei, R., et al. (2016)...