1. Synthetic Biology Research: Cyanobacterial Energy Proposal: Polypropylene Biodegrading Bacteria By: Tatiana Gelaf

2. http://english.qibebt.cas.cn/rh/rp/201210/t20121009_91770.html

3. The Problem  Fossil fuels are limited and cause pollution  1 st generation biofuels: from crops  Use food sources  Environmental impact  Costly  High energy cost (fertilizer)  Highly controversial

4. Solution using Synbio  Cyanobacteria naturally produce a variety of products which can be used as biofuels.  Hydrogen  Various Alcohols  Synthetic biologists work to make them more efficient in this production.

5. Hydrogen  Nitrogenase : nitrogen fixation  Hydrogen produced is consumed by hydrogenase.  Synbiologist modifying bacteria to not consume this hydrogen.  Bidirectional hydrogenase: oxidizes/produces  Intolerant to oxygen  Synbiologists working on oxygen-tolerant bacteria.  Fuel source to be burned with only byproduct being water. http://phidrogeno.blogspot.com/

6. Ethanol  Produced through fermentation  Pyruvates  acetaldehyde  ethanol  Engineered to produce more through overexpression of relevant genes.  Used as supplement/replacement to diesel.

8. Butanol  Two distinct pathways.  Synthetic 2-ketoacid pathway  Uses intermediates from amino acid production  2-ketovalerate  butanol  CoA-dependent pathway  Acetyl-CoA  Butyryl-CoA  Butanol  Occurs in nature.  Production concentrated through introduction of certain enzymes.  Can be used in petroleum engines or mixed with diesel.

9. http://gophoto.us/key/1%20butanol%20sigma %20aldrich

10. Photanol  Phototrophs+Chemiotrophs  photofermentative systems.  Phototrophs:  use energy from photons  produce C 3  Chemiotrophs  use energy from oxidized compounds in environment  consume C 3  produce various products through fermentation.

11. Photofermentative system http://www.springerimages.com/Images/RSS/1-10.1007_s10126-010- 9311-1-1

12. Sources http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13435 73/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC31367 07/ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/10121 4141932.htm http://phys.org/news/2013-03-fuel-bacteria- genetically-modified-cyanobacteria-efficient.html http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2010/541698/ http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2012/E E/c2ee23148d http://aem.asm.org/content/65/2/523.full http://www.sebioenergy.org/2011/speakers/Spall.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel

13. Polypropylene Degrading Bacteria

14. The Problem  Most types of plastics don’t biodegrade.  Remain in environment.  Pose a threat to wildlife.  Release toxins.

15. Current Technologies  Biodegradable plastics  Crops  Designed to be composted, takes a while  Recycling  Structural problems  Energy expensive  Selected for Bacteria  Produce useless/dangerous byproducts.

16. Proposed Solution  Polypropylene  propylene  Propylene  Previously produced from fossil fuels  Recycled to polypropylene  Acetone, phenol, isopropanol

17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypropylene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propene

18. Bacteria  Two component signaling: uses polypropylene as chemical signal  Open reading frame codes for one of the following:  Modified endonuclease  hydroxyethylphophonate dioxygenase (HEPD)

19. Modified Endonuclease  NEase  Covalent intermediate  Modified recognition site  Covalent intermediate: nucleophile  transition metal

20. HEPD  Cleaves C-C  Uses oxygen + ferric superoxide

21. Sources http://www.livescience.com/33085-petroleum-derived-plastic-non- biodegradable.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic#Polystyrene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_recycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polypropylene http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Biodegrad ation.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propene http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-001-0850-2 http://www.intechopen.com/books/polypropylene/thermal-oxidation- of-polypropylene-and-modified-polypropylene-structure-effects http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic5.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_enzyme#Recognition_site http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hF3zOIo NU3AJ:www.springer.com/%3FSGWID%3D4-102-45-105452- 0+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/7326 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22528/ http://www.news.illinois.edu/news/09/0610chemistry.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21121666