Bacteria make more rigid, thermally stable, biodegradable plastics similar to polystyrene and PET for the first time

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-bacteria-thermally-stable-plastics-similar.html

"metabolic pathway recombining enzymes from other microorganisms that allowed E. coli to produce/ tolerate accumulation of polymers entirely of ring-like monomers with phenyllactate aromatic sidechains... enabled using polymerase enzyme engineered using computer-simulations... produces 12.3 g/L polymer (poly(D phenyllactate))... also developing polymers with higher molecular weights required for various industrial applications... biomedical (drug delivery)... goal: >100 g/L enabling commercialization"

Related: Coaxing purple bacteria into becoming bioplastic factories
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-coaxing-purple-bacteria-bioplastic-factories.html