Team:Hong Kong-CUHK/Description

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ABCDE(AzotoBacter vinelandii in Carbon Dioxide to methane energy)

Main idea

The main idea for this project is to test the application of modified nitrogenase in converting carbon dioxide to methane inside Azotobacter, with an improved efficiency.

Significance

The significance of this project is to aim for an alternative solution to the global energy crisis and also to lower a main gas pollutant – Carbon dioxide through carbon fixation. With the exploitation of the use of fossil fuels, the world is now facing some major energy crisis. To match the standard of living, alternative energy sources are more needed than ever. The product of our project can convert carbon dioxide into methane inside the bacteria Azotobacter vinelandii. The methane produced can then be used as an energy source by burning and any carbon dioxide produced during the process can be feed back to the system to generate even more methane.

As we all know, hydrogen is another popular choice as an alternative energy, because it is considered as a ‘clean fuel’, since it does not produce greenhouse gases during combustion. However, since our product have the ability to convert the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into methane, it eliminates the original disadvantage of using methane as a fuel. With the use of our product, methane can be considered as a better fuel than hydrogen gas because hydrogen gas has a much lower boiling point than methane, hence it would require more energy to liquefy hydrogen for storage. In other words, the storage of hydrogen would be more difficult and more expensive. Additionally, the car engines we are using nowadays were originally designed for the use of hydrocarbon fuels. If we want to use hydrogen to power our vehicles, changes of car engines would need to be made. Whereas methane could be readily used since it is a hydrocarbon.

Furthermore, not only can the bacteria used in this project grow reasonably easily in aerobic environment along with an intracellular anaerobic environment which is needed for our reduction reaction; but they are also very safe with a group 1 safety level.

Goal

Through research papers, we have found out that the carbon fixation process is not efficient enough as most energy is used in hydrogen production. Therefore, tackling the fixation efficiency will be our goal for the project. We will do this through two approaches: the enhancement of hydrogen recycling which is to feed back the hydrogen product into the reaction chain; and the increase of intracellular carbon dioxide concentration.

MNOPQ(Magnetic Nanoparticles on particular requirement)

Main idea

This project’s main idea is to produce nanoparticles with magnetic properties under certain requirement. Azotobacter vinelandii is used again because these bacteria can provide an intracellular anaerobic condition, which is needed for making the nanoparticles.

The magnetosome is a magnetic nanoparticle with size 30nm to 120nm which is a magnetite surrounded by magnetosome membrane (MM). It is originated from the magnetotactic bacteria called magnetospirllum gryphiswadense. Magnetosome serve as a navigational device in magnetotactic bacteria by interaction with magnetic field of the Earth.

Biomolecules, such as enzyme, antibody, can be immobilized on the magnetosome in some ways, so that biomolecules can be easily controlled by magnet. One way to immobilize biomolecules is genetically modifying the transmembrane protein on MM into protein-biomolecules fused protein. As the size of magnetosome much smaller that the size of artificial magnetic beads magnetosome has a greater surface area to volume ratio; more biomolecules can be immobilized.

Application

One application of our project is using magnetosome in removing heavy metal ion in water. In China, water pollution is serious. 1.6 million tons of e-wastes per year are produced in China since 1990s. Different kinds of heavy metal ions such as Pb, Cu, Ni…etc, are found in the marine system, with lead being one of the major metals in e-waste recycling sites. The exposure of lead could have negative impact on brain development. By using magnetosome and immobilizeing different heavy metal binding proteins onto it, different kinds of heavy metal ions can be immobilized and be easily removed from the water by magnet. This novel method is better than the previous recent methods, regarding the operating cost, efficiency and eco-friendliness. It keeps the water in high quality for large demand in population.

The second application is adding antibodies on magnetosome for immunoprecipitation. Due to the smaller size of magnetosome than traditional magnetic beads, magnetosome with antibodies probably have a higher binding efficiency. Also, the antibodies added magnetosome can be mass-produced in bacteria.