AI used to design a multi-step enzyme that can digest some plastics
AI-driven protein design has enabled the possibility of creating things unlike anything found in nature. Scientists have successfully created an enzyme with the potential to digest plastics. Breaking down ester bonds in plastics requires four steps - getting AI to design a protein with the right configuration to do one of these steps is easy, but having it cycle through all four is much harder. The scientists overcame challenges by adding more AI models and eventually designed an esterase capable of digesting the bonds in PET, a common plastic.