Polyethylene is the most widely used plastic and arguably one of the most versatile materials to ever be synthesized. Its practicality and convenience however, have come at a great environmental cost. Polyethylene takes millennia to decompose, leeching harmful microplastics into the environment. The iGEM HKUST 2018 team approaches this pressing issue from a synthetic biology perspective, making use of transformant E. coli engineered with genes encoding for Laccase to degrade polyethylene into smaller alkane chains. Our team recognizes the opportunity to further advance this project by addressing another key issue – energy. Using Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 strain’s inbuilt extracellular electron transport mechanism in tandem with genes responsible for alkane metabolism derived from Desulfatibacillum alkenivorans, we generate electricity from the metabolism of degraded polyethylene, hoping that it will one day solve the world’s growing energy needs. Thus, our project serves as an integrated effort to simultaneously solve two crucial problems.CLICK HERE FOR MORE
