About This Project

Poop smells bad, there's no getting around that.

Or is there?

This year, our iGEM team is investigating the degradation of p-cresol, which is the worst smelling component of pig manure. We're engineering a genetic pathway in the bacteria E. coli to eat up p-cresol and de-odorize it's environment!

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Our goal is to insert two genetic pathways, pch and pra, into E. coli. These pathways code for a series of enzymes which are capable of breaking break down p-cresol molecules, and turning them into fuel for the organism.

These pathways come from two microbes, Bacillus sp. strain JJ-1b and Pseudomonas putida strain 2,4-x. The Bacillus strain can convert p-cresol to 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4HB). The Pseudomonas strain can break down 4HB all the way to pyruvate and acetyl-CoA, which then enters into the cell's central metabolic pathways. Therefore, once we move these pathways into E. coli, it should be able to live off p-cresol as their sole carbon source!

Check our wiki for even more details and genetic constructs!

What is the significance of this project?

p-Cresol smells really bad, and holds the dubious distinction of being one of the worst odor compounds in pig manure. As you might imagine, its not all moonlight and roses near a pig farm. The degradation of p-cresol by an engineered E. coli bacterium is a proof-of-concept for a smell reduction procedure that could significantly improve the air quality surrounding pig farms. This will cut down on the number of air quality disputes caused by odor concerns, and improve relations with neighbors and worker.

What are the goals of the project?

We've already made some progress on our project, but we've ran out of cash and can't quite finish off our project and slay the p-resol dragon. Funds will be used for PCR reagents, oligos, sequencing runs, Gibson Assembly components, and kits for PCR cleanup and plasmid isolation.