Nitroaromatic compounds are commonly used in pesticides, dyes, and explosive. When disposed of improperly, these compounds can be released into the environment acting as mutagens and pollutants. This is especially harmful because the stability of the benzene ring allows the nitroaromatic compound to resist oxidation. The bacteria Comamonas has proven capable of catalytically degrading nitrobenzene to catechol through the use of a multicomponent nitrobenzene dioxygenase (NBDO). Past research has successfully cloned NBDO genes into an E. coli vector which allows for more efficient cellular growth and protein expression. The purpose of this work is to seek to optimize conditions for growth of E. coli with our NBDO cloning vector present and to maximize the expression and isolation of nitrobenzene dioxygenase reductase (NBDR). This will be an important step in determining the overall reaction mechanism of the Rieske dioxygenase enzyme found in Comamonas. Some variables that will be tested are time of bacterial growth, medium formulation, temperature, and IPTG concentrations.

Optimization of expression of nitrobenzene dioxygenase reductase

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.