US EditionScientists turn plastic waste into Parkinson’s drug levodopa using engineered bacteria
Researchers engineered Escherichia coli to convert PET waste into levodopa with 84% efficiency, using a two-step microbial process that also integrates carbon dioxide capture.
- Yesterday, researchers at the University of Edinburgh engineered Escherichia coli BL21 to convert PET into levodopa , as published in Nature Sustainability on March 17, 2026.
- Faced with abundant PET and recycling limits, the University of Edinburgh research team pursued bio-upcycling to address L-DOPA production relying on fossil fuels that generate significant waste.
- The team reported an optimized two-step workflow achieving 5.0 g L-1 L-DOPA and 84% conversion using foil-derived TPA, expressing the TpaK transporter and splitting the pathway across two cooperating microbial strains.
- The researchers emphasise the work remains a proof-of-concept, with challenges like product recovery and contaminant removal, at the Carbon-Loop Sustainable Biomanufacturing Hub funded by 14 million in EPSRC grants.
- With more than 1.1 million people in the United States living with Parkinson's, bio-upcycling could offer new treatment avenues, addressing environmental and health challenges.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Waste Plastic Turned into Parkinson’s Drug
A drug to treat Parkinson’s disease can be made from waste plastic bottles using a pioneering method, a new study shows. The approach harnesses the power of bacteria to transform post-consumer plastic into L-DOPA, a frontline medication for the neurological disorder. It’s the first time a biological process has achieved this, and the scientists behind […] The post Waste Plastic Turned into Parkinson’s Drug appeared first on Good News Network.
Scientists turn plastic waste into Parkinson’s drug levodopa using engineered bacteria
Researchers engineered a two-strain microbial system that converts PET-derived terephthalic acid into levodopa, overcoming key bottlenecks in transport and enzyme inhibition. The proof-of-concept process achieves high yields under mild conditions and demonstrates a potential route for upcycling plastic waste into valuable pharmaceuticals.
Each year, millions of tons of plastic bottles end up in landfill or in nature, while patients with Parkinson depend on a drug produced from fossil fuels. The idea of turning recycled plastic into a medicine against Parkinson seemed unthinkable. Yet, synthetic biology has just made this perspective concrete. E. coli bacteria reprogrammed to make L-DOPA Polyethylene terephthalate, better known as PET, is the ubiquitous plastic in water and soda b…
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