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Team:Imperial College
From 2013.igem.org
We are engineering microbes to make environmentally friendly plastics from rubbish.
Europe's Newest Mountain, Mount Wasted
Production of the red pigment by stress induction. MG1655 were grown with LB media and sterile filtrated WCM for 48 hours.
Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF)
(A) WCM precursor material, this sterilised media made from LB and SRF was used to produce all WCM utilised. (B) Cells containing mCherry pigment grown in SRF (A) over 3 days, then streaked in a qualitative assay to check for growth. (C) mCherry cells were streaked again after 7 days growth in SRF.
(A) SRF in PBS (phosphate buffered saline), a buffer. We can see from this experiment whether our bacteria can grow solely on the waste SRF. (B) Cells containing mCherry pigment grown in SRF (A) over 3 days, then streaked in a qualitative assay to check for growth. (C) mCherry cells were streaked again after 6 days growth in SRF.
Cultured bacteria performing arts.
Accumulation of waste represents a considerable problem to humanity. Over the next 50 years, the global community will produce approximately 2 trillion tonnes of waste, or 2.5 times the weight of Mount Everest.
Traditionally, mixed non-recyclable waste is sent to landfill or for incineration, both of which result in environmental damage. The detrimental effects are perpetrated by the plastic degradation into toxic byproducts and the production of greenhouse gases by these processes. We propose to upcycle this mixed waste into the bioplastic poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB) to create a closed loop recycling system. Our engineered E. coli will operate within sealed bioreactors. In the future we picture the use of our system in a variety of contexts as part of our M.A.P.L.E. (Modular And Plastic Looping E.coli) system.
