In the world of medication manufacturing we are a society of efficiency, however we are underutilizing some of the most hard working and inexpensive employees out there: E. coli. By utilizing synthetic biological practices and BioBricks, the plasmid pMJD001 was constructed and introduced into DH5a E. coli cells to yield acetyl salicylic acid as its waste product. BioBricks that were used include: K1065103, a plasmid containing an isochorismate synthase and a salicylic acid (SA) synthase gene, which will help the bacteria use chorismate from its environment and internally produce SA. This part was placed inline with the biobrick K1499000, an acetyl transferase, to allow the bacteria to convert SA to acetyl salicylic acid (ASA). To measure ASA production, cells grown in LB broth overnight were harvested, spent media was extracted with different organic solvents, samples were dried; and then ESI mass spectrometry was used to determine the presence of ASA. Growth conditions are being explored to maximize ASA production using this method. This fairly simple system will be expanded to produce other SA derivatives such as mesalamine, a drug used in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.

Synthetic biology: Production and utilization of aspirin producing bacteria

255th National Meeting (2018)

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