Team:Berlin

iGEM.Berlin 2015

What is it about?


This year’s iGEM project of the Berlin team is all about plastic - to be specific: microplastic and the clearance of our water with the aid of Synthetic Biology.
The idea is to build a modular filter system for wastewater treatment plants which is able to degrade plastic. Bakterial flagella, moleculare hair-like structures, are equipped with a combination of enzymes that are able to breakdown plastic molecules.

Detailed Information:

Every year 280 million tons of additional plastic waste contaminate the oceans.^[1]
Nowadays plastic is everywhere: it is not only used for the packaging of groceries but also in cosmetics, toothpaste and in many other everyday items.
Flowing in the wastewater of our homes or in that of industrial processes microplastic finds its way into the wastewater treatment plant, where it cannot be filtered out sufficiently.
After leaving the sewage plant with the treated water it is introduced into the environment.

Animals and organisms living in lakes, rivers or the ocean take up plastic particles which can often lead to their death by mechanical injuries or obstruction of food intake and digestion.
An average number of 35 plastic pieces was found in 95% of german kingfisher birds. ^[2]

The aim of the iGEM Team Berlin 2015 is to go about this complex problem by means of synthetic biology using natural products, which are produced by microorganisms, to design a molecular filtering machine – the Enzymatic Flagellulose.
The filter consists of a surface made up of cellulose to which bacterial flagella will be immobilized, whereby the attachment will be achieved via a cellulose-binding domain. In our case, cellulose itself does not provide any functionality besides acting as a biocompatible carrier. The single flagella-subunits, also known as flagellin, will be interlinked with plastic degrading enzymes. Thus, this system enables an increased specific surface with highly catalytic activity. Microplastics will be decomposed into biodegradable units by the enzymes and will not constitute a threat to the environment anymore.
The Enzymatic Flagellulose unit will be integrated within the secondary wastewater treatment, where biological oxidation takes place. That way, the release of microplastics into the environment, its distribution, and related environmental consequences can be prevented.
Furthermore, our functionalized matrix can be expanded to other environmental problematic issues, such as removing medicine residues or pesticides, besides microplastics, from wastewater.
Thus, it offers a wide range of application possibilities. By varying and combining the interlinked enzymes of different functions it can be applied diversely and simultaneously for various purposes such as the degradation of drug residues in wastewater.

^[1] Allsopp, M., Walters, A. et al: Plastic debris in the world’s oceans, Greenpeace Report 2006, 1–43
^[2] https://www.nabu.de/natur-und-landschaft/meere/muellkippe-meer/muellkippemeer.html, Zugang 04.04.2015