Validate Part: BBa_K2742000 (HADase1) showed the ability to breakdown the pollutant DCA. Click here to read more about this construct.
Collaboration: As a means of improving the relationship between iGEM teams in one of the least represented parts of the US team UT-Knoxville organized and hosted a web conference with other iGEM teams from the Southeastern region., click here.
Human Practices: We worked with various institutions to organize multiple outreach events in the Knoxville area. Details can be found here.
Gold Medal
Integrated Human Practices: Though we originally intended for this work to be a metabolic engineering bioremediation project aimed solely at the breakdown of dichloroacetate, after discussing our work with experts in the field, namely Dr. Robert Murdoch at The University of Tennessee, we decided to incorporate an exploration of dehalogenation in the environment in order to simultaneously explore a greater diversity of enzymes, as well as learn about the metabolic importance of dehalogenation in the environment. We accomplished this goal by focusing on expressing and testing haloacid dehalogenases specifically acquired from a variety of global environments. Because of this expansion to human practices we are providing not only data that can effectively help us bioremediate toxic pollutants, but also provide us with basic scientific knowledge through a greater understanding of the global prevalence and importance of dehalogenation.
Demonstrate your Work: Both of the parts we submitted BBa_K2742000, BBa_K2742001 were shown to be able to break down dichlorocate showing their effectiveness as potential biodegradation enzymes. We tested additional compounds in the forms on monochloroacetate and trichloroacetate. The breakdown of trichloroacetate provides evidence that the our biodegradation enzymes could serve as general biocatalysts for bioremediation efforts. Furthermore, our characterization of 2 enzymes from multiple environments shows the potential for haloacid dehalogenases to play a role in the ecology of various environments. These data show significant potential real world applications as they both provide evidence that HADases are dehealogensaes and make a significant stride towards further defining the imprtance of dehalogenation in various ecosystems.Our project data can be found here:Project.
