Insights into polyester plastic biodegradation by carboxyl ester hydrolases

Abstract Environmental pollution caused by polyesters has become a major ecological safety concern that needs to be managed urgently. One way to resolve this problem is giving the spotlight to current emerging research of microbial biocatalysts. During the last two decades many researchers have reported the ability to break down and modify natural and synthetic polyesters using different microbial carboxyl ester hydrolases (lipases, esterases, cutinases, PETases, etc.) also called polyesterases, and contribution of these enzymes towards the reduction of plastic levels in the future. Continuous search of such lipolytic biocatalysts and their improvement via protein engineering strategies results in beneficial findings making the use of polyesterases in the biodegradation of plastics increasingly more realistic. The present review provides a comprehensive insight into the structural properties enabling microbial lipolytic‐type carboxyl ester hydrolases to effectively catalyze the cleavage of ester linkages in different polyester plastics. Moreover, the management of extensively used polyester plastics using different lipolytic enzymes as an innovative eco‐friendly solution is presented in this report. Furthermore, improvement of polyesterases via protein engineering for the development of more effective and suitable polyester‐degrading lipolytic biocatalysts is summarized in this review as well. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).