Team:CPU CHINA/Implementation
PROPOSED IMPLEMENTATION
INTRODUCTION
This year, the CPU_CHINA team focused on the serious environmental issue caused by polyethylene plastic waste that is difficult to be broken down. Initially, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw an increasing tendency of online shopping and takeout delivery taking the place of shopping in malls and eating out in restaurants. This situation has led to an explosion on numbers of delivered packages. Yet these packages are often wrapped with excessive of plastic packaging material that is environmentally unfriendly and extremely difficult to degrade under natural conditions.
To resolve the potential crisis caused by the accumulating plastic packaging waste, we designed polyethylene degradist (PEDe). This very degradation system consists of three fungal proteins: manganese peroxidase (MnP), aryl alcohol oxidase (AAO) and hydrophobin-1 (HFB1). Provided with adequate substrates, MnP could utilize hydrogen peroxide produced by AAO to oxidize hydrocarbon chains on PE, while HFB1, as a hydrophobic protein, helps the system to "park" on the hydrophobic surface of PE. In addition, we assembled the entire system on a double-stranded DNA using CRISPR/dCas9 anchor system and SpyCatcher/SpyTag connect system.
TARGET USERS
Our target users will mainly include landfills and government environmental protection departments. Since our product has certain degree of programmability, non-profit organizations, ecological restoration companies, and biotechnology companies can also be our potential target users.
As the society develops, the Chinese government has paid more and more attention to the prevention and control of waste plastic pollution, and has gradually increased its investment in the field of plastic biodegradation. We hope to cooperate with environmental protection departments to establish public solid waste treatment facilities in some cities with serious solid waste pollution such as PE plastics. At the same time, a biological factory can be established to produce the proteins and nucleic acids required by the assembly of PEDe on a large scale, thus ensuring the supply of PEDe it to the above-mentioned facilities for solid waste treatment.
Thanks to MnP's strong oxidizing ability, PEDe can also be used to treat organic wastewater. The treatment of azo dyes used by printing and dyeing companies has always been a tricky problem. We have observed a good stability and activity of MnP in high-concentration organic substances, which makes PEDe useful for the treatment of these wastes. Therefore, these companies with organic wastewater treatment requirements are also our potential target users.
USAGE OF OUR PRODUCT
Product formation
Compared with other enzymes or protein preparations that require cold chain transportation at -20°C or lower, our product plans to use freeze-drying strategy to make proteins and nucleic acids into freeze-dried powder for transportation. This will greatly facilitate the use of our products in remote areas, lowering energy consumption and carbon emissions, which is in accordance with our environmental protection philosophy. After the user receives the product, it only takes a few simple steps to re-dissolve the powder and assemble the entire degradation system.
Scenarios
Our team can provide users with a variety of degradation systems that can cope with different pollution scenarios.
For example, when treating wastewater containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or azo dyes, the hydrophobicity of the system is unnecessary, so users can choose to use a system containing only MnP and AAO, and customize larger dsDNA for enzyme immobilization.
However, when processing solid plastics, users can choose a combination of hydrophobic systems containing HFB1 to ensure that the entire degradation system is attached to the surface of the waste being processed.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Our products will use a variety of genetically modified microorganisms, including Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris, in the production process. Therefore, before transferring our products from the laboratory to large-scale industrial production, testing and distribution, extensive testing is required to ensure that the various engineered bacteria we used are absolutely safe for human beings and the environment. Also, before launching the actual production activities, we need to apply for licenses and compliance documents from the relevant governmental departments to avoid potential legal risks.
In addition, the suspension of production due to COVID-19 may have an impact on the procurement, production and sales of this product. Therefore, we will strictly abide by the local epidemic prevention and control policies, adjust production and sales strategies in a timely manner, and try to avoid losses due to the epidemic.