Artificially Evolving Bacteria to Consume Recyclable Feedstocks

Summary: “Hello Everyone! I'm Matthew Edghill, a third year Biochemistry Specialist undergrad from Barbados. My research in the Mahadevan Lab involves two distinct metabolic engineering projects: Firstly, I am conducting a long term adaptive laboratory evolution experiment, to optimize a strain of Escherichia coli for ethylene glycol (EG) assimilation. I will then assay the gene expression of this evolved strain to identify which mutations are beneficial for assimilation, and reengineer an optimized strain using this knowledge. Currently, the feedstocks that bacteria consume during bioprocess engineering, require large quantities of resources to produce. However, since EG can be bio-upcycled from plastics like PET, it could be used as an environmentally friendly alternative feedstock. Secondly, I am characterizing multiple engineered fatty acid decarboxylases, to determine the scope of substrates they could catalyse. These enzymes could convert fatty acids to alkenes, which are critical compounds for synthesis in chemical industry, reducing industrial reliance on raw materials from fossil fuels.”