Every year, around 400 million tons of plastics are produced worldwide, a number that increases by around 4% annually. The emissions resulting from their manufacture are one of the elements contributing to climate change, and their ubiquitous presence in ecosystems leads to serious ecological problems.
How would they synthesise this protein then?
I would have thought they’d insert the DNA for it into a bacterium to produce it at scale, even if the protein is extracted and applied to the plastic separately. They could add an artificial environmental dependency to stop it replicating outside, but I’m not sure that’s foolproof.
I don’t think it’s a likely outcome, but without details on usage it’s hard to know. (Also not being a biologist doesn’t help)