Bioremediation of industrial pollutants by insects expressing a fungal laccase

Abstract

Inadequate management of household and industrial wastes pose major challenges to human and environmental health. Advances in synthetic biology may help address these challenges by engineering biological systems to perform new functions such as biomanufacturing of high-value compounds from low-value waste streams and bioremediation of industrial pollutants. However, the current emphasis on microbial systems for biomanufacturing, which often require highly pre-processed inputs and sophisticated infrastructure, is not feasible for many waste streams. Meanwhile, concerns about transgene biocontainment have limited the release of engineered microbes or plants for bioremediation. Engineering animals may provide opportunities for utilizing various waste streams that are not suitable for microbial biomanufacturing while effective transgene biocontainment options should enable in situ bioremediation. Here, we engineer the model insect Drosophila melanogaster to express a functional laccase from the fungus Trametes trogii. Laccase expressing flies reduced bisphenol A by more than 50% when present in their growth media, while a lyophilized powder made from engineered adult flies degraded more than 90% of bisphenol A and indigo carmine in aqueous solutions. Our results demonstrate that transgenic animals may be used to bioremediate environmental contaminants in vivo and serve as novel production platforms for industrial enzymes. These results support further development of insects, and possibly other animals, as bioproduction platforms and their potential use in bioremediation.

Contribution of insect gut microbiota and their associated enzymes in insect physiology and biodegradation of pesticides

“…Resistance and detoxification of pesticides and many more (Ismail, 2020;Clark et al, 2021;Ahmad et al, 2022b;Siddiqui et al, 2022). Insect pests' resistance against different pesticides by insect gut microbial enzymes was reported (Table 2).…”

Rapid generation and screening of transgenic black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens)

“…In one paper we engineered strains to produce a fungal laccase enzyme which successfully degraded industrial pollutants such as BPA in vivo and in vitro. 8 In another paper we generated strains to express organomercurial lyase and mercuric reductase which successfully bioremediated methylmercury into volatile Hg 0 where it could be easily collected. 9 When considering the use of BSF as a component of animal feed, they are already being manipulated through breeding programs and 10 Among the various goals are increasing lipid content, increasing larvae size, and reducing certain components such as chitin that aren't beneficial in the feed.…”