Difference between revisions of "Team:Manchester/Description"

“We may be able to substitute nuclear power for coal power, and plastics for wood, and yeast for meat, and

friendliness for isolation - but for phosphorus there is neither substitution nor replacement."

- Isaac Asimov’s 1959 essay ‘Life’s Bottleneck’

What is the problem?

Phosphorus, one of the most common element on earth, is a fundamental element for all living organisms. From DNA to cell membranes, phosphorus is essential for a variety of biological molecules. Phosphorus is also vital for food production as it is one of the three main component of agricultural fertilizers, alongside nitrogen and potassium.

Unfortunately, phosphate rock is a finite resource. The vast majority of the reserves can only be found in Morocco which controls 77% of the global phosphate reserves with 50 billion tonnes. Peak phosphorus is expected to be reached around 2030 and reserves are predicted to be exhausted in 50-100 years if current rates of extraction does not change. This will deliver a serious blow to the rising world population as meeting increasing demand for food may become an impossible task.

At the same time, significant amounts of phosphorus end up in rivers and lakes as agricultural wastewater, giving rise to a major environmental problem: eutrophication. Eutrophication creates algal blooms, exhausting dissolved oxygen levels and killing aquatic organisms, thus heavily reducing biodiversity and disrupting our ecosystem. There is a need for a solution to conserve and recycle phosphate efficiently.

What is our solution?

We are engineering a bacteria that can store and accumulate increased levels of phosphate through microcompartments. Phosphate is stored in bacteria in the form of a polyphosphate chain, built by the enzyme, polyphosphate kinase (PPK). Exopolyphosphatase (PPX) functions to breaks down this chain, providing phosphate to be used by the bacteria.

We are targeting PPK to the inside of the microcompartment, enabling chains of phosphate to be stored within the protective protein shell. Because it is inside this storage, PPX and the bacteria cannot get access to the phosphate chain and therefore will take up more phosphate from its surroundings to make up for the unaccessible phosphate. This creates a bacteria that can take up and store a higher level of phosphate than normal.

To find out how we will achieve this experimentally, please click here to visit our wet lab page.

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Project Description

The Phosphorus Dilemma

Phosphorus, one of the most common element on earth, is a fundamental element for all living organisms. From DNA to cell membranes, phosphorus is essential for a variety of biological molecules. It is also vital for food production since it is one of the three nutrients used in commercial fertilizers alongside nitrogen and potassium.

There is currently a debate on whether we are reaching peak phosphorus production. In other words, are we using it faster than we can extract it? Regardless of the answer, the phosphorus cycle is inefficient and is often overlooked even though there are serious consequences if we are indeed running out of phosphorus. To address this problem, we have designed a solution that would ‘close the loop’ in the phosphorus cycle.

What are we doing?

We are engineering a bacteria that can store and accumulate increased levels of phosphate through microcompartments. Phosphate is stored in bacteria in the form of a polyphosphate chain through an enzyme called PPK. However, there is another enzyme called PPX that breaks down this chain of phosphates to be used by the bacteria. Meanwhile, a microcompartment is made up of a protein shell that can act as a protective storage.

When PPK is tagged to the inside of the microcompartment, a chain of phosphate can be stored inside the microcompartment which eventually accumulates. Because it is inside this storage, PPX and the bacteria cannot get access to the phosphate chain and therefore will take up more phosphate from its surroundings to make up for the unaccessible phosphate. This creates a bacteria that can take up and store a higher level of phosphate than normal.

Applications of our project

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