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Team:UCL/Project/About
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<a data-tip="true" class="top large" data-tip-content="This is Sir William Henry Perkin, who accidentally discovered azo dyes in 1853 at the age of 15. He discovered mauveine (the first synthetic organic chemical dye) whilst working on quinine synthesis." href="javascript:void(0)" style="width: 13%;float: left;margin-right:2%"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/95/William-henry-perkin.jpg" style="max-width: 100%;"></a> | <a data-tip="true" class="top large" data-tip-content="This is Sir William Henry Perkin, who accidentally discovered azo dyes in 1853 at the age of 15. He discovered mauveine (the first synthetic organic chemical dye) whilst working on quinine synthesis." href="javascript:void(0)" style="width: 13%;float: left;margin-right:2%"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/95/William-henry-perkin.jpg" style="max-width: 100%;"></a> | ||
| - | Since their accidental discovery by Sir William Henry Perkin in 1853, azo dyes have become one of the most popular forms of<a data-tip="true" class="top large" data-tip-content="Azo dyes can supply a complete rainbow of colours, but yellow/red dyes are more common than blue/brown dyes." href="javascript:void(0)"><b>synthetic colourant</b></a>. These dyes are currently used in the industrial manufacture of a variety of <a data-tip="true" class="top large" data-tip-content="Azo dyes account for approximately 60-70% of all dyes used in food and textile manufacture." href="javascript:void(0)"><b>products</b></a>, ranging from clothing and upholstery to cosmetics and tattoo ink, as well as many others.<br><br>Although azo-dyes are widely regarded as a safe and stable form of synthetic colourant, some of them can take on <b>dangerous properties</b> after they have been broken down by enzymes in the guts of organisms.</p><br> | + | Since their accidental discovery by Sir William Henry Perkin in 1853, azo dyes have become one of the most popular forms of <a data-tip="true" class="top large" data-tip-content="Azo dyes can supply a complete rainbow of colours, but yellow/red dyes are more common than blue/brown dyes." href="javascript:void(0)"><b>synthetic colourant</b></a>. These dyes are currently used in the industrial manufacture of a variety of <a data-tip="true" class="top large" data-tip-content="Azo dyes account for approximately 60-70% of all dyes used in food and textile manufacture." href="javascript:void(0)"><b>products</b></a>, ranging from clothing and upholstery to cosmetics and tattoo ink, as well as many others.<br><br>Although azo-dyes are widely regarded as a safe and stable form of synthetic colourant, some of them can take on <a data-tip="true" class="top large" data-tip-content="Some azo dyes have been reported to cause human bladder cancer, splenic sarcomas and hepatocarcinomas as a result of azo dye reduction in the intestinal tract." href="javascript:void(0)"><b>dangerous properties</b></a> after they have been broken down by enzymes in the guts of organisms.</p><br> |
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Revision as of 15:56, 10 October 2014
Since their accidental discovery by Sir William Henry Perkin in 1853, azo dyes have become one of the most popular forms of synthetic colourant. These dyes are currently used in the industrial manufacture of a variety of products, ranging from clothing and upholstery to cosmetics and tattoo ink, as well as many others.
Although azo-dyes are widely regarded as a safe and stable form of synthetic colourant, some of them can take on dangerous properties after they have been broken down by enzymes in the guts of organisms.
In the textile industry alone, the annual production of dyes amounts to millions of tons globally with azo dyes representing two thirds of this value. In many countries, the leftover dye effluent produced by industrial manufacturers is often not properly disposed of, or removed, during water treatment.
This results in the accumulation of azo dyes in water bodies where they are then ingested by aquatic organisms. The products of this enzymatic breakdown have been found to be both mutagenic and carcinogenic and have been linked to increased occurances of several different forms of cancer if they enter the food chain. Despite this toxicity and it's potential effect on human health, little to no effort has been made to dispose of these leftover azo dyes more responsibly.
For our iGEM project we developed a process to controllably degrade and detoxify the excess azo dye effluent at the source - the textile factories - before they even reach the water systems. We achieved this goal by introducing the genes for three enzymes related to the degradation of these dyes: azoreductase, laccase, and lignin peroxidase into a host E.coli cell to create an enhanced azo dye decolourising organism.
Click on our lab team logo to learn more about our BioBricks!
We also designed an integrated end-of-pipe method for detoxifying dye factory wastewater effluent streams by incorporating our engineered E. coli strain in a two-stage process to ensure optimal conditions for the degradation of azo dyes within a batch bioreactor system. The development of such a process would be an attractive and effective approach to dealing with azo dye contamination of the environment. As a financial incentive, we also looked at maximizing the profitability of various potential breakdown products as well as investigated the application of microbial fuel cell technology to an aerobic bioreactor system, for simultaneously detoxifying azo dyes and generating electricity.
Click on our bioprocessing team logo to learn more about our bioprocess!
The potential for scalability of this method would present various economic and environmental advantages for industries that generate large amounts of dyestuff. The system we have developed could also be enhanced to become a modular bioprocess method for wastewater treatment of other toxic, normally recalcitrant chemicals.
