A sustainable auto regulating bacterial system for the remediation of oil pollutions was designed using standard interchangeable DNA parts (BioBricks). An engineered E. coli strain was used to degrade alkanes via β-oxidation in toxic aqueous environments. The respective enzymes from different species showed alkane degradation activity. Additionally, an increased tolerance to n-hexane was achieved by introducing genes from alkane-tolerant bacteria.
Brinkman, E. K., Schipper, K., Bongaerts, N., Voges, M. J., Abate, A., Wahl, S. A. A Toolkit to Enable Hydrocarbon Conversion in Aqueous Environments. J. Vis. Exp. (68), e4182, doi:10.3791/4182 (2012).