Team:Sydney Australia/project overview
This year, the Sydney iGEM team is working with the ethene monooxygenase enzyme that performs the epoxide reaction converting ethylene to ethylene oxide. This enzyme is only natively found in Mycobacterium smegmatis, however, this host is difficult to work with on an industrial scale. Consequently, we are trying to optimise expression of this enzyme in Escherichia coli. Due to the vast genetic differences between these two bacteria, we first tried to increase expression in Pseudomonas putida as it functioned as a stepping stone to E. Coli. If successful, this bacteria will be capable of performing biocatalysis (green chemical synthesis) and bioremediation (biological degradation of pollutants) reactions.