Active Site Local Environment Allows Acidic and Basic Synergy in Enzymatic Ester Hydrolysis by PETase
Jeffrey Fan, Xueqi Chu, Kevin Fang, Colin Zhang, Nicole Guo, Robert Chuang, Yujia Li, Jiaxu Chen, Emma Wang, Na Ding, Joshua Franklin, Yang Ha
This paper investigates how the active site environment of PETase enables synergistic ester hydrolysis under acidic and basic conditions by stabilizing the transition state through hydrogen bonding and proton shuttling.
bioRxiv · Feb 5, 2026 · PreprintBiophysics