The Last Penicillin Binder
Water pollution originates from many contaminants and antibiotic waste is one of them. Antibiotics which remain in waste water after a treatment may cause bacteria to become multi resistant. In result of this, bacterial infections could spread rapidly and without having an efficient treatment. Current chemical methods of water purification require high cost and energy to be effective. To solve this problem with a cheaper method, our team modified bacteria to bind penicillin remains in waste water. The bacteria produce biofilms which on the surface has penicillin binding peptides attached to csgA proteins. We aim to target beta-lactam rings of the penicillin with these peptides. Our modified bacteria produces an iron-storage protein, bacterioferritin. Then using a magnetic field, we plan to pull away the penicillin-captured-bacteria to which we have added magnetic property with bacterioferritin proteins.
